Lots of eyes on today’s provincial ‘Hydrogen Roadmap’ report

By COLLIN GALLANT on November 5, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Alberta is set to unveil its “Hydrogen Roadmap” today, signalling how it plans to regulate and help develop the fuel observers say could be the zero-emissions product of the future.

Premier Jason Kenney and Dale Nally, associate minister of natural gas and electricity, have a 10 a.m. press conference scheduled to present the document promised last spring.

That comes as Canada and other countries discuss new emission reduction targets at the United Nations Conference on climate change currently underway in Glasgow, Scotland.

Local government, industry and economic development officials will also be interested in the provincial report. This summer, the city’s economic development office, Invest MH, revealed it was leading a “Hydrogen Hub” study to investigate potential partnerships and production in the Palliser Region.

Locally, CF Industries announced in the fall of 2020 it would seek to become a global player in the production supply and transport of “green ammonia,” a potential transport medium for hydrogen and nitrogen, and prioritize projects in 2021.

Its mid-year financial report released this week outlined it would add carbon capture capabilities at two plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast at a cost of US$285 million by 2024.

Over the last year, the City of Medicine Hat utility has said it is closely watching pilot projects in Alberta that blend hydrogen into natural gas for home heating, and examined blending the fuel into a large-scale gas-fired power plant.

Invest MH has said planning is underway to apply for a carbon sequestration hub in the province.

Medicine Hat was one of six clusters identified in previous petrochemical diversification reports released either by Nally or the previous government.

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