The Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) and Carbon Alpha today announced plans to develop the North Star Project, a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) project near Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.
North Star builds upon the existing MLTC Bioenergy Centre by adding carbon capture and storage (CCS). The bioenergy centre generates renewable power fuelled entirely by waste biomass, such as bark and sawdust, from MLTC’s integrated sawmill and sustainably managed forestry operations, according to a news release. Forestry biomass consumes carbon dioxide (CO2) over its lifetime.
By capturing the biogenic CO2 emissions from the MLTC Bioenergy Centre and injecting it deep underground, the project effectively removes CO2 from the atmosphere safely and permanently, generating high-quality CDR credits.
The project is expected to create up to 125 construction jobs and 12 permanent jobs once operational. The partners have secured pore space and commenced preliminary front-end engineering and expect to reach a final investment decision in mid-2025 with project start-up in mid-2027.
Once operational, North Star plans to generate about 70,000 CDR credits annually, which would be the largest CDR project in Canada. However, this represents a fraction of what is required to achieve carbon neutrality – the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has made it clear that CDR is required to achieve net-zero CO2 targets, and the National Academy of Sciences estimates that 10 billion tonnes of CDR per year will be required by 2050.
