Alberta pours $57M into hydrogen research, fuelling infrastructure
The province is committing $57 million to developing hydrogen power in Alberta, while a U.S.based company says it will build a network of vehicle fuelling stations using the element.
Both announcements come as the provincial government continues its approach that favours hydrogen fuel over what it terms to be dirtier electrical power, and to enable Alberta to be carbon neutral by 2050.
The province said this week its cash infusion will help research the viability of hydrogen in heating but mostly transportation, including $2.2 million to test hydrogen vehicles for the City of Calgary.
At the same time, Pennsylvania-based Air Products said it'll build a network of commercial hydrogen fuelling stations along the Queen Elizabeth II Highway between Calgary and Edmonton, with the first coming on-stream in Edmonton next year.
That station is receiving $1 million in funding from Natural Resources Canada's zero emission vehicle infrastructure program.
“Hydrogen has the potential to transform global energy markets and to create trillions of dollars of economic activity,” Alberta Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish said in a statement.
“Alberta's government is committed to investing in new technologies to develop a hydrogen market and to ensure that Alberta is the hydrogen capital of Canada.
These investments will help to grow and diversify our economy, and secure our future as a global energy powerhouse for generations to come.”
The provincial investment will also pump $6.9 million into a project demonstrating methanol-hydrogen vehicle refuelling technology with the City of Edmonton, and another $7 million to boost efforts installing production, distribution and refuelling infrastructure in the region that will supply hydrogen to Edmonton Transit.
Strathcona County's Millennium Place Recreation Centre will receive a hydrogen system to provide heat and power with a $5-million grant as another one of the 28 projects to be funded.
But provincial officials were also hailing Air Products' plan to install hydrogen fuelling stations between Alberta's two largest cities, each of which the company says will have the capacity to service 200 heavy-duty trucks and 2,000 cars a day.
It would create the country's first transportation corridor using hydrogen, which can be produced or separated from water, and when burned emits only water.
“In Canada, hydrogen is essential to decarbonizing transportation where heavy-duty vehicles travel long distances in extreme temperatures,” said Rachel Smith, vice-president of Air Products Canada, whose company is building a $1.6-billion net-zero hydrogen energy complex in Edmonton.
“By adding hydrogen fuelling infrastructure along Alberta's busiest transportation corridor, Air Products is helping to clear the way for hydrogen-powered vehicles as a viable clean alternative to EVs,” said Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally.
Alberta's abundance of natural gas used in the production of hydrogen energy is considered an advantage.
In its budget announcement in February, the UCP government said that starting next January it will slap a $200 registration fee on electric vehicles (EVs) to compensate for their wear and tear on roads, and for the fact their owners don't pay a fuel tax.
Some see that, and the fact Alberta is one of the few provinces not to offer an incentive to purchase the vehicles, as signs the government discourages EV ownership.
The province says hydrogen is expected to be an industry worth between $2.5 trillion and $11 trillion a quarter century from now.
More immediately, it's forecast there will be 5,000 hydrogen or hybrid vehicles on western Canadian roads within five years.
While hydrogen vehicles are currently rare, committing to supportive infrastructure first will hasten their adoption, said Mayank Sabharwal, research chair for sustainable hydrogen at the University of Calgary's Schulich School of Engineering.
“It's a chicken and egg thing — we need to start somewhere, and having that infrastructure will boost the number of vehicles and their cost will come down as the economy of scale comes into play,” he said.
“And it's a great thing the government is building upon infrastructure, it's definitely going to be helpful in developing technology but also societal acceptance going from high carbon to hydrogen.”
But Sabharwal said hydrogen and EV technology will complement rather than cancel out each other, with both driving the movement toward more sustainable energy.
One technology will be more effective in some situations and less so in others, he added.
While environmental concerns over lithium used in EV batteries remain, he said advances in recycling and new battery types should keep EVs in the renewables sweepstakes.
“Hydrogen will have a positive impact on both of these markets,” said Sabharwal.
Particularly intriguing, he said, is a $1.7-million investment to research hydrogen's aviation use at the Edmonton International Airport.
“That may have a big (environmental) impact,” said Sabharwal.
Of the 28 projects receiving funding, 20 are already underway while, if successful, the remaining eight are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 13,000 tonnes a year while supporting 720 jobs, the government said.