ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A company hoping to build a massive wind-to-hydrogen project in western Newfoundland is eyeing other options as Canada’s plans to supply Europe with green energy have not yet come to pass.
World Energy GH2, led by seafood mogul John Risley, says it is developing a concept for what it calls a “renewable energy campus” in the region, which would use energy produced from its operations.
As first reported by news outlet allNewfoundlandandLabrador.com, the campus would harness power from the planned wind turbines to power a data centre aimed at artificial intelligence companies.
Company spokesperson Laura Barron says it is taking longer than expected to develop a commercial-scale green hydrogen market, but data centres are an option in the meantime.
The first phase of the company’s plans to build a hydrogen and ammonia plant in Stephenville, N.L., alongside several onshore wind farms cleared the Newfoundland and Labrador government’s environmental scrutiny process earlier this year.
German officials flew to Stephenville in 2022 to sign a commitment with Canada to create a hydrogen alliance that would see Canadian-produced green hydrogen shipped to German buyers by 2025.
Amit Kumar, an engineering professor at the University of Alberta, says it’s still too expensive to produce green hydrogen in Canada and then convert it to ammonia for shipment to Europe, where it would be converted back into hydrogen.
He says it will likely be at least another decade before the technology improves enough — and the proper infrastructure is built — to make green hydrogen produced in Canada cheap enough for German buyers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 19, 2024.
The Canadian Press