Coming C-Lock GreenCert deal in Alberta Canada?
There is a rumor going around that C-Lock, a subsidiary of Evergreen Energy, is working on a big deal for their GreenCert product in Alberta, Canada. This article confirms the favorable environment for such a deal:
canada.com
Emissions trading can begin, carbon emitters told
No registry yet, but draft protocols are in place, environment ministry says
Darcy Henton
The Edmonton Journal
Sunday, July 01, 2007
EDMONTON - Alberta carbon emitters can start trading for carbon credits even though there's no registry established yet to register the trades and no finalized protocols for them, says Alberta Environment.
The clock starts ticking today on Alberta's 100 heaviest emitters of carbon dioxide to reduce their emissions, but they don't have to make those reductions until Dec. 31, said Alberta Environment spokeswoman Kim McLeod.
Companies can, however, make deals for emission credits based on the draft protocols posted on the Alberta Climate Change website and they can register their transactions when a privately
operated registry begins later, she said.
"The registry doesn't have to be in place for them to start doing this work," McLeod said.
"If you're a farmer and you want to start doing some low-tillage program to capture more carbon in the soil, you have protocols now to measure and quantify it and you can get going on that part of it."
McLeod said the department is consulting various parties on the development of a registry for posting available credits and recording emission credit deals.
"We're meeting with stakeholders over the summer and we'll announce the plans in the fall," she said.
Some industry analysts have expressed dismay that the carbon market is not yet running and that protocols are still in draft form.
It will take many months to locate and screen credits and negotiate for their purchase, they say. It's also risky to make purchases of credits before the rules that quantify how many credits a particular practice produces have been finalized by the government.
Many companies are expecting to pay into a new Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund at the rate of $15 for every tonne they exceed the carbon cap.
Alberta Environment expects most companies will pay into the fund
initially because they won't be able to produce sufficient reductions in the first six-month period of the climate-change law.
The penalty payments could amount to $177 million if they all pay the maximum, based on their latest emission and production levels.
Alberta's heaviest emitters are required to reduce their emissions intensity -- their carbon dioxide emissions per unit of production -- by 12 per cent below a baseline set between 2003 and 2005.
Liberal energy critic Hugh MacDonald said the province may have bitten off more than it could chew when it announced the new law would take effect July 1.
He said Liberal Leader Kevin Taft and environment critic David Swann had predicted the province couldn't implement the new program that quickly, "and it looks like they were right."
Enmax spokesman Peter Hunt
noted emitters won't be required to make actual payments into the fund until March 31, 2008.
Enmax is optimistic that, when the province finalizes the design of the program, specific guidelines and protocols will recognize steps the utility has already taken, such as the development of new wind generation, Hunt said.
"There is uncertainty right now, which we very much look forward to being resolved soon," he said. "But the most important thing is for the government to carefully structure the implementation of this policy in a manner that ensures the environmental benefits of the policy are realized without causing unnecessary financial harm to electricity generators."
The cost of the new climate-change law is expected to be passed on to electrical consumers, but some utilities fear that may not be possible in Alberta's deregulated energy market.
dhenton@thejournal.canwest.com
.....................................................
For more info on C-Lock and Greecert:
c-locktech.com
evgenergy.com |
