Green hydrogen production plants powered by new wind power projects could move forward in Canada’s Atlantic provinces, with a recently announced agreement between the country and Germany to jointly invest about $400 million in grants to boost the construction of ‘facilities that would manufacture and export the cleaner fuel as ammonia. . The investment follows a 2022 hydrogen trade pact by the two countries to boost decarbonisation, but opponents have raised questions about the intended use of the cleaner fuel.
Over the next three years, Nova Scotia-based developer EverWind Fuels said it plans to invest, in two phases, at least $10 billion to build and operate three onshore wind farms in the province, along with a facility lation of green ammonia capable of producing 240,000 meters. tonnes per annum to start and up to 1 million metric tonnes per annum in its second phase, and an upgraded ice-free deepwater port at Point Tupper, NS
The province’s environment ministry approved the largest of the three wind farms — a 49-turbine, 340 MW facility at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion — in July, after validating the others last year. Everything is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2025, with ammonia production in 2026. Several First Nations are also partners in the project, but EverWind has not yet announced its final investment decision.
Simultaneously, Halifax, NS-based EverWind Fuels began negotiations with what it said are “strategic partners to finalize purchase agreements by the end of 2024,” but company officials declined to confirm that they include German energy companies Uniper SE and E.ON SE. The two companies had agreed by 2022 to take a total of 1 million tonnes per year of green ammonia produced by adding nitrogen to hydrogen.
“Canada is a reliable supplier of clean energy to our global allies,” said Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, adding that the deal “will ensure that Germany has access to clean Canadian hydrogen for feed their economy and in turn create jobs.” and drive economic growth here in Atlantic Canada.”
EverWind Fuels said US-based Black & Veatch completed front-end engineering and design earlier this year for the first phase of the Point Tupper project, with construction likely to start later of this year EverWind said the project’s initial design, involving about 110,000 engineering hours, “represents the first announced completion of a FEED for a large-scale green hydrogen and green ammonia production facility in the Americas North”.
The first phase of the project will use “state-of-the-art” electrolysers and ammonia synthesis technology to convert water from nearby “man-made” Lake Landrie and “mainly” from new wind farms to produce green ammonia. B&V President and CEO Laszlo von Lazar said the facility’s design also makes it “one of the most advanced hydrogen and ammonia projects in North America and the world.”
The engineer is also involved in a planned second EverWind Fuels ammonia plant on the Burin Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, in what the developer said would be a larger facility with an estimated cost of about $8 billion, but did not disclose details of production capacity. A wind project of up to 3 GW of capacity will also be built in the province which could also include offshore turbines. “The engineering hours that have gone into our Point Tupper project … have been adjusted to reflect the massive size and scale of our project on the Burin Peninsula,” said CEO Trent Vichie from EverWind Fuels.
For onshore wind turbines planned in Nova Scotia, their growth in height now requires larger and heavier foundations, said Liam Duffy, general manager of construction for builder Renewable Energy Systems Canada Inc., Montreal. “A foundation may require up to 75 tons of steel and 700 cubic meters of concrete at a depth of 4 meters into the ground,” he said, but substantial amounts of hard rock near the surface of the site “will require rock.” the anchor base has to be built,” Duffy noted. The largest of the wind projects will require 650 workers, he said, adding that EverWind Fuels is in negotiations with local unions.
EverWind said it aims to develop a 15 GW portfolio of renewable energy across Atlantic Canada and plans to “make use of various investment tax credits.”
Meanwhile, opponents of the Nova Scotia project raised concerns at a July community hearing about projects related to sending clean energy resources overseas when more than half of the grid’s power of the province now comes from fossil fuels. EverWind Fuels officials predicted that 20 percent to 30 percent of the plant’s wind power would feed back into the grid, and that more local markets would be developed to use the hydrogen and ammonia produced.
Separately, contractor McDermott International announced last month that it had been awarded an “early contractor involvement” contract from Abraxas Power Corp. for another commercial-scale Newfoundland hydrogen plant powered by renewable energy that would include an estimated 3.5 GW and 150 MW wind farm. solar installation. The plant would produce 165 kilotons per year of hydrogen and 5,000 metric tons per day of ammonia. Under the contract, without financial terms being disclosed, McDermott’s services will include front-end engineering; engineering, procurement and construction planning; and cost estimation of project components.
Canada announced its federal hydrogen strategy in 2020, focusing on low-carbon hydrogen to reach a goal of net zero emissions by 2050, and 80 hydrogen production projects announced since then. But the International Energy Agency said in its latest report on the renewables market this year that “of [green hydrogen] current projects in the portfolio, only 7% will be launched before 2030”.
