*NOTE: THIS BLOG POST HAS BEEN SUPERCEDED. FOR AN UP-TO-DATE VERSION OF THE PATHWAYS CHART, SEE THE MORE RECENT POSTING HERE.*
Last month, Alberta Environment published a Memorandum regarding how project eligibility is changing for all Offset Credit projects using, or intending to use, the Quantification Protocol for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions from Pneumatic Devices. This impacts:
high to low bleed pneumatic instrument conversions,
instrument gas to instrument air projects for pneumatic instruments and pumps,
electrification of pneumatic instruments and pumps,
as well as vent gas capture from pneumatic instruments.
I'm not going talk about anymore about vent gas capture here, as this portion of the Protocol is effectively going to end up being superseded by the forthcoming Vent Gas Capture protocol (the subject of last month's blog).
For the other project types, the window of opportunity is closing. Due to various forthcoming requirements under the Alberta Energy Regulator's D060, many of the activities that are currently voluntary will soon be mandatory and as such, will cease to be eligible to create offset credits.
As the Memo includes a lot of info, I've done my best to compile it into a simple-to-follow flow-chart that clearly shows what projects will be eligible, until when.
The key take-aways are that:
No credits will be available for any installations completed on or after Jan 1, 2022, or for pneumatic instrument conversions completed on or after Jan 1, 2023.
For pneumatic devices conversions completed in 2021, 2022 (or earlier) crediting will end Dec 31, 2022, except for pumps, where an 8-year crediting period will still be possible.
For more information on creating offset credits from pneumatics or other projects, feel free to contact me.