Niagara clean energy sector gets $15M boost
Two of the projects will be at BMI’s Multimodal Hub in Thorold
The Canadian government is fuelling a clean energy future in Niagara by investing about $15 million into three local companies that could help the country meet its greenhouse gas emission targets by 2030.
Jonathan Wilkinson, minister of energy and natural resources, announced at BMI’s Multimodal Hub in Thorold on Friday the federal government is providing $5.2 million to CHAR Technologies to support a front-end engineering design study for a woody-biomass-to-renewable-energy facility.
It is also providing $4.6 million for a front-end engineering design study to StormFisher Hydrogen, for a renewable natural gas production facility. Both will be built at the Thorold facility.
In addition, another $5 million will fund a front-end engineering design study for Azure Sustainable Fuels Corp., to support the eventual construction and operation of a sustainable aviation fuels production facility in Port Colborne.
“It is enormously gratifying to see these kinds of industrial clean technologies move through the development phase” into commercialization, said Wilkinson. “Global energy transformation is environmentally imperative to protect the planet and our children.”
The federal government’s goal is to reduce oil and gas emissions by up to 38 per cent below 2019 levels by 2030.
CHAR Technologies, which moved into the former Ontario Paper Company pulp and paper mill in 2023, is proposing to convert woody biomass into renewable energy such as biocarbon and natural gas. The company also has facilities in Kirkland Lake, Drayton Valley, Alta., and Saint Felicien, Que.
The federal government had already provided the company with $5 million.
The funding will help design the engineering documents necessary to present them to potential funding agencies, said Andrew White, the company’s chief executive officer.
The goal is to construct two large machines and establish a feed stock area outside the building that will transform the material into renewable natural gas beginning this summer, said White. The goal is to have the machines operational in 2025.
There are currently five people employed — including in the research and design area — with a full complement of about 10 people projected to be working at the facility, he said.
“This is a significant step forward with CHAR Technologies,” said White. “This will help to transition towards a more sustainable energy future.”
White said his company decided to settle in Thorold because it was near critical transportation links, including the Welland Canal and rail, and close to Hamilton, where it has partnered with ArcelorMittal to decarbonize steel.
“It is also hard to find space,” said White.
In 2023, ArcelorMittal provided $5 million through its XCarb Innovation Fund Accelerator Program to CHAR Technologies which won a competition. It demonstrated the best process to accelerate decarbonization of the steel industry through its biocarbon process.
In December 2022, the governments of Ontario and Canada teamed up to provide CHAR Technologies with more than $11.3 million for its renewable natural gas and biocarbon facility.
Once operational, the Thorold facility will reduce the province’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30,000 tonnes annually, said provincial officials.
Brandon Moffatt, co-founder of StormFisher Hydrogen, said the funding will “help us advance the design and feasibility study” to eventually construct a renewable natural gas facility at the Thorold location.
The company purchased about 8 hectares at the 800-hectare multimodal hub, with the goal of getting the $200-million low-carbon fuel building operational by 2028. The study is projected to be completed in 2025.
It will combine renewable energy from Ontario’s grid with biogenic CO2 emissions from local industry to produce 1.25 gigajoules of natural gas and “decarbonize” 16,000 homes and businesses in Ontario, he said.
The facility is expected to support more than 100 construction jobs and 30 full-time jobs once it is operational.
“We found a lot of the right pieces in Thorold,” said Moffatt.
And Wilkinson announced that $5 million was provided to Azure Sustainable Fuels Corp., to create a front-end engineering and design study for the proposed construction and operation of a sustainable aviation fuel facility in Port Colborne. It could mean creating 1,500 construction jobs and 150 full-time jobs once the facility is operational.
The study is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024 and the construction of the facility completed by the end of 2025 on the north end of Port Colborne. Azure has two other processing facilities in Manitoba and British Columbia.