Enbridge Inc. and the First Nation Capital Investment Partnership (FNCIP) reached an agreement on Feb. 3 to advance the proposed Open Access Wabamun Carbon Hub west of Edmonton.

The hub is being developed as an innovative combination of carbon transportation and storage solutions to support recently announced carbon capture projects from Capital Power Corp. (Capital Power), Lehigh Hanson Materials Ltd. (Lehigh Cement), and potentially others.

Once built, the Hub will be among the largest integrated carbon transportation and storage projects in the world. Capital Power and Lehigh Cement's planned carbon capture projects represent an opportunity to avoid nearly four million tonnes of atmospheric CO2 emissions.

FNCIP is a newly formed investment partnership of four Treaty 6 First Nations located in Alberta—Alexander First Nation, Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, Enoch Cree Nation and Paul First Nation. It was designed to pursue ownership in major infrastructure projects with commercial partners who share Indigenous values. The Lac Ste. Anne Métis Community will also have an opportunity to pursue ownership in future carbon transportation and storage projects associated with the hub.

The hub is the FNCIP's first partnership.

"This path creates an opportunity to generate wealth, but more importantly it allows sustainable economic sovereignty for our communities. We are creating a healthy future for the next seven generations to thrive," Chief of Alexander First Nation, George Arcand Jr., said. "We're looking forward to working with industry leaders who share our values of environmental stewardship and to collaborate with Enbridge on world-scale carbon transportation and storage infrastructure investments."

With support of local Indigenous groups, Capital Power, and Lehigh Cement, Enbridge has applied to develop the open access Hub through the Government of Alberta's Request for Full Project Proposals process.

Pending the award of carbon sequestration rights through the Government of Alberta’s CCUS Requests for Full Project Proposals (RFPP) and receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, the project could be in service as early as 2025, according to Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) analysts.

In a report, the firm said the project possesses the critical components of social license and commercial support to be considered as a strong application in Alberta's process to award sequestration rights. The Government of Alberta plans to announce successful RFPP proponents of the first phase focused on northeast of Edmonton next month.

"We welcome the opportunity to partner with these Treaty 6 First Nations and the Lac Ste. Anne Métis Community as equity owners in the carbon transportation and storage projects being developed within the Open Access Wabamun Carbon Hub," Colin Gruending, executive vice president and president, liquids pipelines at Enbridge, said. "We see Indigenous economic partnerships like this as critical to advancing reconciliation and delivering world-class projects."

Enbridge is targeting CA$1.5 billion of low carbon opportunities through 2025, including this project, TPH noted.

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