MEDIA / Suncor Energy Launches Flare Gas Project
December 17, 1997
Geoffrey Scotton - Calgary Sun
Calgary's Suncor Energy Inc. has launched a pilot project that could help produce power from discarded flare gas across Alberta.
Suncor, best known for its Fort McMurray oilsands operations, and Mercury Electric Corp. will investigate the use of mini-turbines to generate electricity from unprocessed gas.
Across the province, enough gas is vented and flared each day to produce enough power to support a city the size of Calgary, Henk Wind, Suncor's vice-president of production, said yesterday.
"This project is one small step towards capturing the value of this energy source and reducing our net greenhouse emissions," Wind said.
Calgary-based Mercury will test the mini-turbine technology, known as the TurboGenerator, in 1998 at Suncor's Joffre gas plant near Red Deer.
Mercury, a private company founded in 1995 with Canadian oilfield rights to the TurboGenerator technology, is planning to test the equipment at different locations and with different firms.
"In addition to the Suncor site, we are pursuing test sites with other major Canadian energy companies," said Mercury president Richard Kline.
Kline's firm will provide the small scale gas-fired generation facility for the pilot, as well as provide on-site support and maintenance.
Suncor will provide the unprocessed fuel, and in return, will receive the power generated by the facility.
"The technology is still in the early stages of development," said Wind.
"But if it can be applied at our facilities, it may be a method of addressing greenhouse gas issues while cost-effectively powering our operations." |
