At two gas plants in Alberta, small changes are delivering big results for Keyera—lowering emissions, improving efficiency, and reshaping how teams work together. Keyera’s 1,200‑plus employees deliver natural gas, natural gas liquids, and everyday energy products like propane. The company’s operations are based in Alberta, with headquarters in Calgary and facilities in communities across the province.
In 2025, Keyera was approved for $1.3 million from ERA’s Strategic Energy Management for Industry (SEMI) program for capital retrofits at two gas plants. What started as an energy efficiency initiative has helped bring together teams across business functions.
“At Keyera, I work closely with colleagues across many parts of the business, including operations, engineering, and sustainability. We’re the ones who signed up for SEMI,” explains Clark Dickson, Operations Transformation Program Manager at Keyera. “Decarbonization projects are a key element of our facility optimization work. Keyera’s goal is to reduce emissions intensity by 50 percent by 2035.”
Clark’s collaborative team has worked with Keyera’s engineers and facility workers to improve energy efficiency at two major gas plants: Rimbey and Strachan. Rimbey Gas Plant is located 45 minutes north of Sylvan Lake. It was built in 1960 with a large industrial boiler with a waste heat recovery air preheater that had been out of use for over 20 years. Funding from SEMI helped Keyera replace that unit with an economizer to save over 5 percent of energy on water heating.
At the Strachan Gas Plant, 30 minutes southwest of Rocky Mountain House, the team replaced a natural gas-fired cabin-style heater with a heat exchanger. This swap, combined with reactivating an existing waste heat recovery unit, will reduce over 3,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year. At both plants, upgrading equipment allows employees to learn more about energy management.
“Going through SEMI’s Facility Readiness Assessment and Capital Retrofits activities has been a galvanizing process. It’s allowed our team in the head office to partner with asset engineers and facility workers on-site. Upgrading technology is the easy part, but getting people to learn and think differently is the challenge. SEMI has really helped with that,” says Clark.
With learnings from SEMI, Keyera hopes to modernize more gas plants and better inform its people on the benefits of energy management.
Quick Facts
- Keyera is one of the largest midstream oil and gas operators in Canada. The company services oil and gas producers in Western Canada and transports natural gas liquids such as propane, ethane, butane, condensate and iso-octane to markets throughout North America.
- ERA’s SEMI program provides industrial and manufacturing facilities with funding support, expertise, and training in energy management.
- SEMI is a $70 million program, with funding provided by the Government of Alberta and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). It is designed to help the province’s industrial and manufacturing sectors increase competitiveness, improve energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.