Hydrogen plans continue to spike

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 30, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Substantial hydrogen production in southeast Alberta is closer, more economical and would use less water than most people would think, according to a group that once proposed a massive coal-fired power plant near Brooks, but has now pivoted to green hydrogen.

IEPS Canada is made up of former partners of the Bow City Power project – a long-shelved plan for a 1,000-megawatt power plant and adjacent coal pit near Lake Newell.

Partners Brian Bietz and Greg Baden took over the project in the mid-2000s and added a carbon sequestration element in 2010, but “while we were way ahead of the curve, you could see the writing on the wall for coal,” Bietz told the News this week.

Two years ago they retooled the proposal to green hydrogen – producing it from water and large amounts of green power through electrolysis – using the water rights application for the coal plant.

“It’s really shocking just how good the economics are on the project,” said Bietz.

In late 2020 they submitted initial plans to county and city councils around Brooks, and are now “aggressively” seeking a buyer for production and financing for the Kitsum H2 project before a final go-ahead.

That happens as world leaders meet in Glasgow, Scotland beginning this week to determine new climate change goals.

As well, Medicine Hat’s new city council will be sworn in on Monday with the likely high-priority goal of shepherding in a new hydrogen industry attraction strategy.

Mayor elect Linnsie Clark and incoming councillor Alison Van Dyke – who ran on a public utilities platform – have both told the News that a net-zero plan is crucial for the city’s gas-powered power plant.

Administrators in both the utility department and economic development say the city should work with local industry to drive investment here.

“The next four years will be the most critical in the city’s history,” outgoing utility chairman, Coun. Phil Turnbull, said following an overview of modernization efforts at the city presented in early October.

Blending hydrogen into power production, transportation and even home heating fuel is scene as a key element to reducing carbon dioxide emissions (burning hydrogen forms water).

The province plans to release a “hydrogen road map” this month to guide the sector’s development.

In August, Medicine Hat announced it was spearheading a “Hydrogen Hub” study for the southeast Alberta. Coupled with a carbon capture element, it would promote “blue hydrogen” (made from natural gas), as well as “green hydrogen” utilizing green power and water.

Partners include Methanex, CF Industries, Rockpoint Gas Storage and others, but not IEPS – though Bietz said his group has had “very good” discussions and supports the effort.

“We think our product fits in perfectly with what they’re trying to do,” he said.

“There are a large number of really substantial global investors now who are saying emissions reduction is what we need to see in your business plans. Companies actually have to show how they are moving away from hydrocarbons, and green hydrogen does that.

“We don’t ever see it completely replacing natural gas as a hydrogen source within Alberta, but we do see this technology making a material reduction. It’s a natural next step.”

An initial plant at Kitsum would cost $50 million and could produce about 2,000 tonnes of hydrogen fuel per year, said Bietz.

Scaling up to 55,000 tonnes per year would require $800 million in phased expansions and a power demand of 450 megawatts, or about twice the average demand in the City of Medicine Hat.

That would come through Alberta’s grid, said Bietz, or by contracting production from renewable energy facilities, a common practice in Alberta to lower a company’s carbon footprint.

Annual water use would comprise about 880,000 cubic metres, or about 700 acre-feet.

That would make it one of the smallest deliveries on the Eastern Irrigation system, with enough water for intensive irrigation of just five quarter-sections.

“That’s for a world-class plant,” said Bietz. “But we absolutely understand the water issues in the area and don’t want to exacerbate that in any way.”

Last summer, IEPS sought and was granted a ministerial extension for industrial-use water applications filed in the early 2000s, before a moratorium was placed on issuing new licences in the South Saskatchewan Basin.

This month, it was revealed that Australian mining giant Montem Resources had altered its proposal to develop a pit coal mine at Tent Mountain in southwest Alberta to become a renewable energy complex.

There, a reservoir would hold water pumped by wind-power for release through a hydro-electric dam to water to assure stable power production for a hydrogen plant.

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