Canadian Hydrogen Convention 2024—Key Themes and Takeaways

April 29, 2024

Written By Luke Morrison and David Wainer

Approximately 8,000 delegates (including energy executives, government officials and Indigenous leaders from Canada and around the world) attended the third annual Canadian Hydrogen Convention (CHC) which ran April 23 to 25 in Edmonton, Alberta. The CHC focused on how hydrogen will play a leading role and be a key enabler in Canada reaching its 2050 net-zero goals.

An overarching sentiment of CHC 2024 was that Canada remains uniquely positioned to play a critical role in the world hydrogen economy; however, the ability for Canada to capitalize on such opportunity will require rapid adoption of proposed incentives/supports and regulations to provide certainty and ensure Canadian competitiveness relative to other jurisdictions.

CHC 2024 Key Announcements

As in previous years, CHC was a forum for several significant hydrogen-related announcements including the following:

• Government of Alberta to provide $57 Million in hydrogen technology supports: Premier Danielle Smith's keynote address included a commitment from the Alberta government to provide $57 million in innovation funding for 28 hydrogen projects in Alberta.¹ The projects cover the spectrum of hydrogen production, storage, transmission, distribution, infrastructure, and usage. The funding will be delivered by Alberta Innovates and Emissions Reduction Alberta.  Supported projects include $1.7 million to the Edmonton International Airport to evaluate hydrogen’s suitability for aviation applications, and $1.9 million to the Pipeline Research Council to explore retrofitting existing natural gas pipelines for hydrogen.
• Hydrogen Highway: Air Products announced a commitment to build permanent infrastructure for hydrogen refueling along the Queen Elizabeth II Highway that runs between Calgary and Edmonton.² The stations will allow for hydrogen refueling of vehicles ranging from large industrial vehicles to passenger vehicles, with the first station targeted to be in service in 2025.
• Alberta’s First Hydrogen Home:  ATCO expanded on its recently-announced its plan to, in partnership with Qualico, build a residential home in Sherwood Park, Alberta that will use 100 per cent pure hydrogen.³ Such project is part of a larger feasibility evaluation being undertaken by ATCO/Qualico regarding the development of a 100 per cent pure hydrogen community which could potentially serve approximately 85,000 residents in the area), funded by the Alberta Hydrogen Centre of Excellence.

Key Themes

Building on topics covered at CHC 2023 (which we outlined in our previous blog, Key Takeaways from the 2023 Canadian Hydrogen Convention: Part 1), the following presents a snapshot of key themes emerging from the CHC 2024 strategic and technical sessions:

Alberta/Canadian Advantages

Canada's numerous comparative advantages in participating in the global hydrogen economy continue to include, among other factors: (1) feedstock/supply—having an abundance of natural gas that can be produced and converted to hydrogen sustainably (via CCS and other technologies), (2) labour—skilled workforce that can meet hydrogen project needs (building on existing skills and decades of innovation in production, processing and related operations), and (3) geology—led by Alberta, various provinces have ample geology to support safe, reliable and permanent carbon sequestration for blue hydrogen production.

Importance of Export/Supply Chains

Urgency for Canada to unlock export opportunities was a recurring theme of CHC 2024.Japan, South Korea and other Asia Pacific nations were recognized as representing vast long-term demand/hydrogen offtake sources⁴, but such end-use markets can only be accessed by Canadian hydrogen/ammonia producers if necessary supply chain infrastructure is developed, particularly including rail and West Coast port components. Such supply chain build-out and development will require decisive, timely and tangible commitments from provincial and federal governments (e.g., in the form of passing currently tabled legislation for clean hydrogen, CCUS and other related investment tax credits⁵), which will in turn enable proponents across the supply chain network to invest capital required to support final investment decisions, and advance key commercial agreements, including evaluations of potential Indigenous partner equity transactions⁶.

International Collaboration

The sharing of technologies, innovations and international collaboration around hydrogen, between governments and the private sector/industry, was frequently cited as being a key ingredient to achieving global net-zero by 2050 and other emissions-related targets. Representatives from Europe (including Polish President Andrzej Duda), Asia, Africa and South America in attendance at CHC 2024 provided a wide array of examples of existing and potential hydrogen partnership opportunities to drive decarbonization initiatives involving hydrogen, including in areas such as steel/manufacturing, public transit, long-haul transport and aviation (where hydrogen was cited as being most suitable for medium haul flights and drones).  Organizations in hydrogen producing regions, such as Edmonton Global and the Edmonton Region Hydrogen HUB in the case of Alberta, were identified as playing a critical role in making connections required to facilitate relationships between developers, potential inbound investors and various stakeholders.

Digitalization

Digitalization of critical infrastructure across the hydrogen value chain was emphasized to a greater degree at CHC 2024 than in past years. Scaling up digitalization efforts rapidly was cited as being critical for Canada to maintain pace with other jurisdictions in respect of the continued development of hydrogen networks.  Specific areas in the hydrogen value chain identified as being suitable for digitization included technology selection, optimization (including integration of renewable power sources), inclusion of predictive AI, and safety/systems monitoring.

To discuss potential hydrogen opportunities, please contact the authors or the Bennett Jones Energy practice group.

Authors