A gateway to green hydrogen

TECH

A Gateway to Green Hydrogen

Vancouver’s HTEC is on a mission to take clean hydrogen to the mainstream. 

Hydrogen Technologies and Energy Corp (HTEC) is building a hydrogen infrastructure network in B.C. and Alberta, backed by a $337 million loan from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. 

The initiative is called H2 Gateway, and includes plans for three hydrogen production facilities, a refuelling network, and deploying 100 hydrogen fuel cell trucks through a new vehicle leasing subsidiary. 

HTEC produces low-carbon hydrogen from a combination of electrolysis (using clean electricity to split water into hydrogen) and capturing by-product hydrogen from industrial manufacturing.

The H2 Gateway project is trying to build a self-sustaining hydrogen ecosystem from the outset. Rather than focusing on production, then distribution, then vehicles, HTEC is building each component in lockstep. By taking this approach, HTEC aims to match hydrogen supply and demand as the network evolves, overcoming a persistent issue in the industry. 

🔎 Hydrogen in context

Hydrogen is often promoted as a way to decarbonize various industries, including long-haul transport, aviation, chemicals, steel and more. But it's not a silver bullet, and its unique properties make it a better fit for some applications than others.

What is it? Hydrogen is made by splitting hydrogen molecules from other compounds - typically methane or water. Conventional hydrogen is made by mixing natural gas with high-temperature steam to split the molecules. Low-carbon versions either use renewable energy and water (known as Green Hydrogen) or by splitting natural gas while capturing the carbon produced as a byproduct (Blue). Because it’s made from other sources of energy, it’s known as an energy carrier. 

How is it used? Hydrogen is used in a number of industries: ammonia for fertilizers, steel production, home heating, power generation, oil refining and all kinds of transportation.

On the transportation front, hydrogen can either be burned in a modified internal combustion engine or used in fuel cells. These operate like batteries and require vehicles with electric motors, but can be refilled quickly using hydrogen gas.

Drawbacks: Hydrogen has a few distinct features. It has a high energy density by weight, meaning it packs a big punch for a light footprint (vs the weight of a lithium battery), but low energy per volume, which means it takes up lots of space. So while it can be transported in fuel cells, pipelines or storage tanks, it usually needs to be compressed and stored at super low temperatures. 

It also requires access to renewable energy for production, which can compete for other decarbonization uses. I.e. the energy from your new hydro dam could electrify all these buildings or be converted into hydrogen. 

Finally, a significant amount of energy is lost in producing and transporting hydrogen. About 20-30% is lost during production and more is lost when compressed for storage and again when converted into energy. 

Given these hurdles, hydrogen skeptics like Michael Liebreich argue that we need to focus hydrogen efforts on the areas where hydrogen has a unique edge - decarbonizing areas that are difficult to do with direct electrification. Liebreich’s “hydrogen ladder” stack-ranks the various uses for hydrogen based on how likely they are to be a significant user of hydrogen. 

Trucking, the focus of HTEC’s regional ecosystem, falls somewhere in the middle. That means grabbing market share is possible, but not a sure thing.

The bottom line

HTEC is putting forward a bold plan to decarbonize trucking in Canada. To succeed, they’ll need to focus on driving down the cost of hydrogen fuel and building out infrastructure. This “all at once” approach could be the key to convincing fleet operators to adopt hydrogen over diesel or batteries by showing there’s a critical mass of supply and infrastructure in place.

SPONSORED BY GREEN ECONOMY LAW

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This week’s issue is sponsored by Green Economy Law, a boutique Toronto-based law firm providing general and specialized legal services for startups and non-profit organizations in climate tech and other green economy sectors.

Sign up for their monthly newsletter to keep up with developments in Canadian climate and environmental law.

Green Economy Law offers legal services for every step of your journey:

• Flat fee incorporation and minute book assembly

• B Corp certification

• Contracts

• IP protection

• Employment

• Green grants and incentives assistance

• Securities law (investments)

For the month of September, Green Economy Law is offering $100 off all incorporation and minute book assembly packages.

Book a free 15 minute consultation here to learn more.

CLIMATE CAPITAL

🧪 Aplantex (Montreal, QC) closed a $2.8 million funding round from Frederick Perrault, Cycle Momentum and others for their plant-based chemistry solution. Aplantex extracts high-value molecules from biomass to produce sustainable ingredients for industries like cosmetics, food, and pharmaceuticals.

🚤 Vision Marine Technologies (Montreal, QC) secured a $3 million investment from Investissement Québec. Vision Marine develops electric recreational boats and outboard engines. 

♻️ Cyclic Materials (Toronto, ON) received $4.9 million from Natural Resources Canada (NRC) for their rare earth recycling tech. The funding will help build a demonstration plant to produce high purity rare earth materials.

🔋 Green Graphite Technologies (Montreal, QC) also landed $3.5 million from NRC for their graphite recovery tech. Green Graphite recovers and upgrades used graphite into battery-grade material, and will use the funding to test and certify the upcycled material’s performance.

💰 Northside Ventures (Toronto, ON) raised $15 million for its first early-stage fund that includes a focus on cleantech. The fund aims to help close the pre-seed funding gap. 

💰 Boundless Accelerator (Guelph, ON) is launching a new cleantech fund to support ventures in Southern Ontario, backed by a $5.2 million contribution from the federal government.

MILESTONES & PRODUCT

🛰️ Remote earth monitoring startup EarthDaily Analytics secured a four-year contract Malaysia’s MySpatial for their observation and change-detection system that can help identify and predict risks related to climate change. 

🏅 Eight startups were selected for Canada’s Next Sustainable Changemaker Challenge hosted by Elevate, including Algyy Cleantech, CERT Systems, and Permalution.

💧 Loop Energy delisted from the TSX while it pursues restructuring. The 20+ year old company went public in 2021 but shares have dropped consistently since its IPO. 

🔋 Li-Metal will also delist from the CSE due to weak market conditions and a low share price. Li-Metal, which develops lithium metal anodes, changed CEOs and sold it’s lithium metal business earlier this year.

🧱 In brighter news, CarbiCrete will license its low-carbon concrete tech to Canal Block, a masonry provider in Ontario.

🧪 Aduro Clean Technologies registered a new patent for recycling tech that can turn plastic waste and renewable oils into new materials like paints and plastics. 

⚡️ EV charger manufacturer FractalEV is teaming up with AXSO to bundle Fractal’s hardware with AXSO’s vehicle energy management system, Eddie, to optimize EV charging in multi-unit buildings.

IN THE NEWS

🇨🇳 China hits back: China’s government is taking Canada’s EV tariffs to the World Trade Organization, requesting a consultation with Canada. China also took aim at Canada’s canola industry, opening an investigation about potential dumping of canola. The move will put pressure on the feds in Western Canada. 

💵 Investing in decarbonization: Quebec-based institutional investors CDPQ and Fonds de solidarité FTQ are investing an additional $575 million into energy company Énergir to help it execute on its decarbonization and climate resilience plans. The move comes after Investors for Paris Compliance issued a report highlighting the poor climate performance of Canada’s big banks and investors. 

🚙 Overlooked EVs: Canada’s commercial vans, trucks and buses are an overlooked EV opportunity, according to a new report from Clean Energy Canada. At least 37% of transport emissions come from commercial vehicles, yet just 2% of these new vehicles sold in 2023 were zero-emissions. Canada is home to at least seven different manufacturers focused on this market, but needs to step up on charging, fuel standards, and purchase incentives to move the needle.

💨 Methane rules: B.C. is ratcheting up rules to curb methane emissions from the province’s oil and gas industry. The new rules require continuous monitoring for highest-risk sources and phasing out methane-emitting equipment. The province says it’s on track to hit a 2025 goal of cutting methane emissions by 45%. 

🏦 Get on with it: Institutional investors want to see Canada’s sustainable finance taxonomy rolled out, but arguments over whether natural gas should be included are holding it up. A majority of investors surveyed want to keep natural gas off the list for further study to move the taxonomy forward.

BIG PICTURE

Meta is leaving Frontier, the corporate carbon removal purchasing group, to focus on sourcing their own removals.

The UK saw the best renewables auction yet, with more than 10 GW of successful project bids, and closed its last coal-fired power plant.

CarbonCapture cancelled the world’s largest DAC facility - the limiter? Competition for clean energy.

Grid scale batteries could be clean energy’s next trillion-dollar business.

Biden rolls out $7.3 billion for rural energy co-ops, while Trump says he’ll roll-back unspent climate funding. 

India needs more reliable weather data to accelerate renewable energy expansion - an urgent part of meeting its climate goals.

COMMUNITY

🗓️ Sustainable Finance Summit: Join over 250 banks, credit unions, lenders, investors and fintechs to advance Climate Risk Stress Testing and Sustainable Finance in Canada. September 12th, Toronto.

➡️ Discover more climate events.

🚀 Landing a Job in Climate – A Playbook to go beyond Resumes and Cover Letters: ​​Marco Morawec, co-founder of Climate Drift, will tools for levelling up your climate job search by addressing companies’ challenges. September 17th, online.

💻️ Relocalize is hiring a Robotics Engineering Technologist to help revolutionize the food supply chain through a network of decentralized micro-factories powered by advanced robotics.

➡️ Find more open roles.