Suncor, Cenovus launch $100M clean-tech fund

The oilsands is tapping Silicon Valley talent to tackle some of its biggest environmental challenges.

Oilsands companies Suncor Energy Inc. and Cenovus Energy Inc. are set to launch a $ 100- million Evok Innovations fund in Vancouver Thursday in collaboration with BC Cleantech CEO Alliance.

U. S. technology entrepreneur Marty Reed will spearhead the drive to tackle issues such as reducing tailings ponds and steam- to- oil ratios.

“The fund takes advantage of the thriving scene in Vancouver around entrepreneurship and borrows from practices from Silicon Valley, and looks to build bridges between Vancouver and Alberta and also B.C. and Silicon Valley,” Reed said in a telephone interview.

Oilsands companies are feeling the heat of stricter environmental policies announced by the Alberta government last year and the global move to decarbonize energy sources.

Reed, who swapped the San Francisco Bay area for Vancouver in September, brought in other Silicon Valley talent in his four- member team and has spent the past few months with Suncor and Cenovus engineers to pinpoint key environmental problems facing the companies.

Evok aims to tap earlystage innovations focused on the oil and gas industry and reduce the time it takes to commercialize technologies. The investments must meet the “double bottom line” criteria of reducing costs and lowering carbon emissions, Reed said.

The industry has collaborated before through the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, which has 13 Calgary- based companies sharing 814 technologies and innovations that cost $ 1.3 bil- lion to develop. But COSIA focuses on non- competing technologies, which limits its effectiveness.

“The steam- to- oil ratio would not be on the table with COSIA, but it’s very much in our sweet spot,” Reed said.

The f und already has several hundred companies in its sights, and the first investment announcement could come within months, Reed said. While there is an early bias toward Canadian startups, the fund will cast its net globally to solve immediate challenges facing the oilsands.

“We are looking at technologies that can reduce tailings ponds, improve the upgrading process, reduce diluent, i mprove steamoil ratio and particularly through the use of smart centres, big data and analytics, which are areas pinpointed by ( Cenovus and Suncor).”

While the two oilsands players’ $ 100- million commitment “goes beyond greenwashing,” Reed admits the fund will not venture into areas that would hurt the oil companies.