Wheatland County a partner in new hydrogen energy hub
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wheatland County is among the partners collaborating on a new low-carbon hydrogen energy hub, which was opened in Calgary on March 21.
The Calgary Region Hydrogen Hu (CRH2), managed by the Transition Accelerator, also includes Calgary Economic Development, the City of Calgary, Alberta Innovates, and the Government of Canada among its partners.
“The concept for the hub is to be a connection point for players in the hydrogen ecosystem … those industry players that could potentially use hydrogen in the future or maybe are currently using it,” said Amber Link, Wheatland County reeve. “Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC) is currently using hydrogen, but they are having to produce that hydrogen themselves because there is not a hydrogen refueling network. That is just one example, but it will basically be taking industry that can produce hydrogen and connecting it with end users.”
Link added the project will also be completing active research, testing and analysis in a variety of sectors, including air traffic, heat and power, use in both industrial and municipal fleets, and on railways.
The county has been working with Calgary Economic Development and the City of Calgary for the past two years, as well as with the other operational partners to bring the project to this launch point.
This follows the same model which was implemented for the Edmonton Region Hydrogen Hub. It is to receive $3 million in funding from multiple orders of government, with an expectation to generate $75 million in private sector partnerships, and the creation of 100 skilled labour positions.
During the press conference hosted to announce the project, Brad Parry, president and CEO of Calgary Economic Development, said the hydrogen economy has the potential to generate approximately $50 billion in revenue annually, and $700 billion globally.
“The reason that Wheatland County is involved in the project is we have identified that we have some key factors that would be conducive to producing hydrogen, and in fact, we do have industry that is already producing hydrogen in the county,” said Link.
“We will build on the success that the Edmonton hub has had so far, but also there are some unique considerations within the Calgary context that we can integrate into the Calgary Hydrogen Hub.”
CRH2 intends to serve as a point of connection for Calgary’s hydrogen ecosystem to share insights, analytics, and inspiration to keep the region competitively viable in a growing and expanding hydrogen market.
The initiative also relates to Calgary’s climate strategy, which targets a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2030, and an achievement of net zero by 2050.
“We are at a point in time where all of the factors have come together and we were ready to launch the actual hub. We have a key staff member in place who will really be pulling together the industry subject matter experts, government – it will really be a public-private partnership to make this work,” said Link. “The next steps are really going to hinge on engaging and connecting industry partners and then doing a lot of knowledge sharing. We are going to be looking for gaps in knowledge and really performing that objective analysis to close those gaps and explore potential pilot projects and regional synergies that the hub can help facilitate.”
More information regarding the Alberta Hydrogen Roadmap, the Hydrogen Strategy for Canada, and the Calgary Hydrogen Hub is publicly available online through their respective governing bodies and organizations.