The province has “ideal geology” for a $500 million carbon storage facility.
A little over a month after opening your first object deep sky set his sights on Manitoba.
“Southwestern Manitoba perfectly embodies what the carbon removal industry needs to succeed.”
The Montreal-based cleantech startup has chosen the province as the next location for Deep Sky Manitoba, its largest direct air capture (DAC) facility to date. The company said southwest Manitoba offers an ideal location for the $500 million facility, with ideal geology for safe and efficient underground carbon dioxide (CO2) storage.
In fact, Deep Sky expects the facility to be one of the world's largest CO2 removal facilities, sucking 500,000 tons of carbon out of the air per year when it reaches full capacity. Swiss startup Climeworks' Iceland facility, which opened in 2024, is called “world's largest carbon capture facilityat that time and absorbs 36,000 metric tons of carbon. Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) I plan to open this year DAC's own plant in Texas with an expected annual production of 500,000 tons of CO2.
Deep Sky will take advantage of Manitoba's hydroelectric grid, which the company says provides abundant renewable energy to power the DAC technology without creating additional emissions. The provincial government also passed law permission to store CO2 last year, and specific regulations are expected this fall.
“Southwestern Manitoba perfectly embodies what the carbon removal industry needs to succeed: ideal geology, clean energy, a skilled workforce and visionary leadership,” Deep Sky CEO. Alex Petre the statement says.
Deep Sky was founded in 2022 by Hopper co-founders Frédéric Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk. The company monetizes its DAC technology by selling carbon credits to large companies in hopes of offsetting their carbon footprint. Companies such as Microsoft and RBC have already purchased carbon credits from Deep Sky worth about 10,000 tons of stored CO2 over 10 years.
CONNECTED: Deep Sky launches first direct carbon capture facility in Alberta
deep sky opened a pilot DAC center in Innisfail, Alta., about an hour's drive from Calgary, in August of this year. The facility, called Deep Sky Alpha, will capture 3,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by the end of the year. A spokesperson told BetaKit that Deep Sky Alpha is a small facility that serves as an innovation hub for selecting the best DAC systems for its larger facilities, such as Deep Sky Manitoba.
The spokesman added that Deep Sky would “support the majority” of the new facility's $500 million cost, but would seek additional investment to achieve full commercial scale. Deep Sky has raised more than $130 million from investors including US$40 million (CAD 57.3 million) grant from “The Breakthrough Energy Catalyst” by Bill Gates.
Deep Sky has begun engaging with municipal, Indigenous and other local stakeholders as it evaluates potential sites for the Manitoba project, which includes the Pipestone and Two Boundaries areas southwest of Brandon, a BetaKit spokesperson said. He has already signed a Declaration of Relationship with the Dakota Nation of Manitoba to explore investment and other partnership opportunities.
Deep Sky plans to select the final site this fall and drill a CO2 storage well by the end of this year. He plans to begin construction on his original building. Export capacity is 30,000 tons in 2026. The remaining capacity will be introduced “in stages.” The company said the Manitoba facility is part of a “portfolio of large-scale projects in development,” including in Quebec.
Phil De Luna, Deep Sky's former chief scientific and commercial officer, said in June that Canada has an opportunity to “rise up” as the government of the United States. reduces climate change mitigation efforts. Last week, Deep Sky poached the operations of CarbonCapture subsidiary True North Carbon, which intended to get its 2,000-tonne DAC project up and running in Arizona before U.S. policy moves it to Deep Sky's facility in Alberta, according to a report Finance post.
Image courtesy of Deep Sky.
