A $300 million power plant east of Fort Saskatchewan that will turn household garbage into energy was approved this month by the Alberta Utilities Commission.

The Varme Energy project will also use the region’s carbon capture and storage system to capture up to 95 per cent of the carbon dioxide it produces.

Varme already has an agreement to accept waste from the City of Edmonton starting in 2028, and is expected to divert five millions tonnes of garbage from landfills over the first 25 years of operation.

The waste will be converted to natural gas, to be burned by the plant to produce 19.6 MW of electricity. Some two-thirds of this energy will be used at the site for the carbon capture and storage process, but the plant will also add 5.8 MW to the Alberta electrical grid.

This means the plant will still emit 17 per cent of the carbon dioxide emitted by a conventional gas power plant of the same 5.9 MW size.

The project is located on Range Road 212, just north of Highway 15, next to the Heartland Sulphur facility.

Construction is expected to begin in 2027, employing up to 300 construction workers, and 30 permanent positions.

The Alberta government Emissions Reductions Alberta fund provided $2.8 million towards Varme Energy’s $6.1 Million front-end engineering and design study for this project. Varme is also planning a similar project in Innisfail, Alberta.