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Feds support green hydrogen project on Newfoundland’s west coast

Graphic courtesy World Energy GH2.

The federal government has agreed to support the development of Canada’s first commercial-scale green hydrogen and ammonia facility on Newfoundland’s west coast.

As announced earlier this week, World Energy GH2 and Export Development Canada (EDC) have reached an agreement on terms for an approximately $128-million credit facility to support the development of Project Nujio’qonik.

Nujio’qonik is the Mi’kmaw name for Newfoundland’s Bay St. George and means ‘where the sand blows.’ Fittingly, the project aims to harness wind energy along the bay’s coast, one of the world’s best regions for wind resources, and in turn use more than 3 GW of renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen and ammonia.

Green hydrogen is a fuel produced through the electrolysis of water, using renewable electrical power. As such, the fuel itself is renewable and zero-emission. The project team expects a 3-GW-plus wind farm will deliver approximately 250,000 tons of hydrogen per year, using 1.5-GW electrolysers.

The project site area offers not only sturdy wind resources on-shore, but also deep-water marine facilities suited to hydrogen production and offloading, an interconnection to the existing power grid for seasonable exchange of green energy, an opportunity to support NL Hydro’s export commitments, available harbour facilities for construction, operations and shipping, access to industrial water for hydrogen production and First Nations involvement.

“Newfoundland and Labrador will be a global leader in clean energy,” says Seamus O’Regan, Jr., federal minister of labour and seniors. “It will be the workers of our province who will sell hydrogen to the world.”

“Through our offshore wind bill, C-49, we plan to unlock Newfoundland and Labrador’s clean power potential, while advancing our commitments under the Canada-Germany Hydrogen Alliance,” adds Jonathan Wilkinson, federal minister of energy and natural resources. “I congratulate all those involved in this significant investment in Canada’s green industrial future.”