Estevan, Regina –While summer vacation for most may be reserved for leisure, this is not the case for over 40 Ph.D, post doctorate, engineering and policy students who competed to attend the annual IEAGHG CCS Summer School – taking place July 7-13 in Regina, Saskatchewan.
On Wednesday, July 10, the group toured the Boundary Dam Unit 3 Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project, along with the associated Aquistore CCS storage site.
Hailing from 20 countries, students are selected on merit, recommendations and a desire to learn how to impactfully reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) through the deployment of carbon capture and storage technology. The IEA Greenhouse Gas (IEAGHG) CCS Summer School, which travels annually around the globe to differing host countries, has returned to Regina (the only repeat city) for the third time. The draw to this location is because this year’s summer school host, the International CCS Knowledge Centre, is based in the Saskatchewan capital. However, International CCS Knowledge Centre is internationally mandated to support climate change goals through the global acceleration of CCS technology by sharing of lessons learned from the operation of SaskPower’s Boundary Dam CCS facility (BD3).
The IEAGHG, as the proprietor of the CCS summer school - now in its 13th year - aims to broaden the knowledge base around CCS in industrialized and developing countries, particularly at an academic level. Throughout an intensive week of learning, the CCS summer school programme covers every aspect of CCS, from technical, such as: capture, transport, storage, and industrial uses, through regulation, policy, financing and communication. Along with international students, the summer school attracts global experts with the most recent information available in each field.
With 600 alumni representing over 50 countries, the summer school has played a key role in many moving on to successful careers within CCS industry and academia. This year’s event will take place at the University of Regina
"We are very excited to be bringing the International CCS Summer School and these bright and motivated international students to Saskatchewan and the International CCS Knowledge Centre for the third time. Saskatchewan is recognized globally as a centre of excellence on CCUS, with the International CCS Knowledge Centre and Saskpower’s Boundary Dam project. It is the best location in the world to learn about CCUS,” said Tim Dixon, General Manager, IEAGHG. (CCUS is carbon capture, utilization and storage.)
Mike Monea, president and CEO of the International CCS Knowledge Centre, said, “We are excited to once again host the IEAGHG International CCS Summer School. It takes multiple levels of effort to actively mitigate climate change – by working with young brilliant minds that share global sustainability as a goal, the CCS summer school plays an integral role in positioning them to make a notable impact.”
