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EDMONTON — The Alberta government is investing $5 million through Emissions Reduction Alberta, from the industry-led TIER program, to support Deep Sky in the design, build and operation of the world’s first direct air capture innovation and commercialization centre in Innisfail.

The new centre is located on a five-acre site and will feature up to 10 direct air capture units, allowing multiple technologies and concepts to be tested at once, explains a release. Starting this summer, Deep Sky Alpha’s units will begin pulling in air, trapping carbon dioxide, transporting it by truck, and storing it underground at an approved site in Legal.

Careful site selection and rigorous monitoring serve to ensure the injected carbon dioxide remains sequestered thousands of metres below the surface, with no impact on fresh water, plants or the soil.

Alberta states the new technology will give the province’s oil and gas, energy and utilities, cement and heavy industry, and agriculture and agri-tech sectors new technologies to reduce emissions, while creating local jobs.

Deep Sky aims to capture 3,000 tonnes of emissions each year and estimates creating 80 construction jobs, 15 permanent jobs and more than $100 million in local economic benefit over the next 10 years.