LAKELAND - Construction on a compressed air energy storage (CAES) project north of LaCorey is expected to begin in 2025 if all the necessary approvals are in place.
Estimated to cost $500 million, the Marguerite Lake CAES Project will add 320 megawatts to the Alberta energy grid for 30 years.
According to documents filed with the Impact Association Agency of Canada by Federation Group Inc., the Marguerite Lake CAES Project would be located 16 kilometres north of La Corey, within the Wolf Lake Provincial Grazing Reserve.
Multiple attempts by Lakeland This Week to reach Federation Group by phone and e-mail went unanswered.
What is CAES?
Brian Brunskill is a professional geoscientist from Saskatchewan. He co-authored a 2023 white paper for the Petroleum Technology Research Centre on the potential for compressed air energy storage.
“There are times when there’s actually too much electricity from wind. And Alberta experiences this quite often, and because there's no one to take it, that wind generation gets curtailed sometimes, which is crazy,” said Brunskill.
“Instead of curtailing that generation, we can use that extra electricity from wind generation to compress air, just atmospheric air, and we push that atmospheric air into a salt cavern.”
“This air can be controllably released from the cavern and through a power turbine, very similar to turbines that would operate in a natural gas generating facility,” said Brunskill.
He said the process of storing the compressed air and then blowing it through the generating unit converts the intermittent renewable energy to firm capacity which can be used on demand. He noted the technology has already been in use with natural gas since the 1970s.
According to Brunskill, the salt caverns are created by circulating fresh water to dissolve the large underground salt formations found in parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan. This process creates a brine solution, which is then stored in saline aquifers underground.
One of the major benefits of CAES as compared to a battery farm is the economy of scale.
“You have one salt plant or one salt cavern, and you have all this surface infrastructure, you can essentially double the capacity by building another tank, another cavern, or three or four or five. So you can see your incremental cost to improve increased duration is quite low, whereas the batteries it's more linear,” said Brunskill.
Marguerite Lake CAES Project
According to the Plain Language Summary filed with the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) by Federation Group in November 2023, the Marguerite Lake CAES Project would initially be fueled by natural gas and transition to hydrogen by 2035.
The document states the project uses 67 per cent less fuel than current technologies, resulting in lower carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt hour of electricity. It also says water would be used in the initial cavern mining process, but no further water resources are required for the long-term operation of the project.
“Brine generated from the salt cavern mining process (during construction) will be disposed of in deep disposal wells. Federation has evaluated the geology of the area to ensure that the disposal wells are in reservoirs deep enough to safely dispose of waste brine without interfering with groundwater and oil and gas production in the area.”
The construction phase would include building a 500-metre powerline connecting the project to the existing ATCO substation and a 14-kilometre gas pipeline to tie into an existing pipeline. The pipeline would remain in place at the end of the facility’s life. The document notes the site of the Marguerite Lake CAES Project was chosen “to avoid creating new access to previously inaccessible areas.”
The site is on the east side of Range Road 462, roughly 2.5 kilometres north of Township Road 644, within the lands of the Wolf Lake Provincial Grazing Reserve.
Up to 200 people would be employed full-time during the construction phase of the project, with about 20 full-time positions when it begins operating.
Summary of issues
The timeline for determining if a formal impact assessment will be required was suspended by the IAAC in November at the request of Federation Group, which cited the need for “sufficient time to prepare its responses to the Summary of Issues for submission with IAAC.”
According to the letter, Federation Group remains “committed to advancing the Project in a timely manner.”
The IAAC requested several clarifications about the project following submissions from Indigenous, Métis, and environmental groups last January.
According to the Summary of Issues dated Feb. 7, 2024, submissions were concerned about environmental impacts, especially related to wildlife and vegetation traditionally harvested by Indigenous people, and the loss of four wetlands totalling 1.75 hectares which are home to fish, migratory birds, and other animals.
“While we understand the project has approval to alter these wetlands, and has paid the wetland replacement fees, there should be efforts towards actually replacing these wetlands,” reads a letter submitted by the Alberta Wilderness Association. The AWA also expressed concern about the 14-kilometre pipeline, which will be abandoned in place at the end of the project.
Cold Lake First Nation in support
The Marguerite Lake CAES Project is within the traditional territory of Cold Lake First Nations, approximately 40 km from the reserve lands. In its submission to the IAAC, Cold Lake First Nations expressed support for the project.
“Projects such as this one are key to advancing Alberta and Canada’s transition away from fossil fuels. We believe we have found a trusted partner in Federation Group, which will ensure CLFN has a major role in stewarding a clean energy future.”
Beaver Lake Cree Nation expressed concerns about the wetlands in their submission to the IAAC. BLCN is currently in litigation with both the federal and provincial governments for treaty infringement related to industrial development in Treaty No. 6 Territory.
“BLCN looks forward to further engagement and Crown consultation on this proposed project, and to gaining a full understanding of the potential impacts posed to the Nation’s way of life and ongoing exercise of its Aboriginal and Treaty rights, and ways to minimize or avoid these impacts altogether.”
The Otipemisiwak Government, which represents the Métis Nation of Alberta, was not consulted in the original engagement period. Their submission to the IAAC places responsibility for the lack of consultation with Alberta’s Aboriginal Consultation Office, which deemed Federation Group’s consultation adequate in a decision on July 21, 2021.
“We trust that going forward, Federation will strive to fulfill best practices in its engagements and consultations with the Otipemisiwak Métis Government, working with us collaboratively and in the spirit of reconciliation to address the concerns expressed in this letter.”
