The West Pubnico Point Wind Farm is seen in Lower West Pubnico, N.S. on Aug. 9, 2021. Industry, Energy and Technology Minister Andrew Parsons said he was pleased that his department 'went above and beyond' to get wind and hydrogen developments started.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
Four renewable hydrogen projects in Newfoundland and Labrador have been given the green light to apply for Crown land for their developments, the latest step in the province’s bid to use its significant wind resources to establish a sector that produces the fuel.
Industry, Energy and Technology Minister Andrew Parsons announced Wednesday that EverWind NL Co., Exploits Valley Renewable Energy Corp., Toqlukuti’k Wind and Hydrogen Ltd., and World Energy GH2 Inc. will receive Wind Application Recommendation Letters, which will allow them to proceed through the province’s Crown land application and approval process.
Mr. Parsons called it a “significant milestone” in moving the sector along: “Recognizing opportunity and collaborating with companies throughout the world, it’s a good moment,” he said.
“Even though it’s not the end of it – we’re not even close to the end of the road – it feels like we’ve made a really good dent in the distance.”
The relentless winds that buffet the coasts of the Rock have caught the attention of various renewable-power developers, who want to harness them and use the clean electricity to produce hydrogen fuel. They believe the sector can become a driving force of the province’s economy.
World Energy, a U.S.-based biodiesel producer, wants to build a 164-turbine, one-gigawatt wind farm on the Port au Port Peninsula, on the province’s west coast. The installation would power a hydrogen/ammonia production facility at the site of the old Abitibi-Consolidated pulp mill in Stephenville. (Ammonia is easier to transport than pure hydrogen; when it reaches its destination it can be chemically split, allowing its hydrogen atoms to be used for fuel.)
World Energy has just finished a preliminary engineering study for the Stephenville project. It is about to launch another, more extensive study, and is lining up customers and finance, Nova Scotia-based billionaire businessman John Risley, a director at the company and co-founder of Clearwaters Seafoods, said in an interview.
With the first phase of the project worth about US$5-billion, and World Energy hoping to get to a final investment decision in late November or December, Mr. Risley said, “we’re running hard.”
Hydrogen as a fuel is light, storable and energy-dense: It produces no direct emissions of pollutants or greenhouse gases, which has drawn the attention of countries pursing net-zero. And that makes it a potential boon for economies willing to commit to the sector as part of their energy-transition plans.
“This is a transformative industry for Atlantic Canada,” Mr. Risley said, pointing to wind as a long-term replacement for the fossil-fuel industry. “Newfoundland has a world-class wind resource, as does offshore Nova Scotia, and there’s huge opportunity in exploiting both those resources.”
While he’s pleased that the World Energy project can proceed to the next stage, he urged the federal government to hasten development of its promised clean hydrogen refundable tax credit, which will cover between 15 per cent and 40 per cent of eligible project costs.
”We’re all sort of sitting with bated breath waiting for details on that,” Mr. Risley said. “General statements from the minister or the Deputy Prime Minister are very helpful and very encouraging … but we need action.”
Mr. Parsons said the province has done its part to demonstrate that the sector can be viable, and project proponents have done an excellent job of conveying the importance of hydrogen incentives to the federal government. Now, he said, it’s incumbent on Ottawa to move ahead.
“The more federal government investment we have in companies that are doing business here and constructing here, that’s better for us,” Mr. Parsons said.
While Wednesday’s announcement moves projects along, the minister stressed that they will still have to go through environmental assessments before any approvals are issued. The province also has to nail down some final policies.
But considering N.L. started from scratch when it released its renewable energy plan in December, 2021, Mr. Parsons said he was pleased that his department “went above and beyond” to get the ball well and truly rolling on wind and hydrogen developments.