The Ontario government is establishing a Hydrogen Innovation Fund that can invest $15 million over the subsequent three years to kickstart and develop opportunities for hydrogen to be integrated into Ontario’s clean electricity system, including hydrogen electricity storage. This launch marks one other milestone within the implementation of the province’s Low-Carbon Hydrogen Strategy, positioning Ontario as a clean manufacturing hub.
“When energy is reliable, reasonably priced and clean our whole province wins,” said Todd Smith, Ontario’s Minister of Energy. “The Hydrogen Innovation Fund will help to put the groundwork for hydrogen to contribute to our diverse energy supply, supporting game-changing investments in electric vehicle production, green steelmaking and clean manufacturing that can create good paying jobs, grow our economy and reduce emissions.”
Hydrogen Innovation Fund projects would support electricity supply, capability, storage and demand management, and support growth in Ontario’s hydrogen economy. The Fund will support projects across three streams:
- Existing facilities already built or operational and prepared to judge how hydrogen can support Ontario’s clean grid.
- Recent hydrogen facilities not yet constructed but might be in-service by a specified date to show how hydrogen can support Ontario’s clean grid.
- Research studies investigating the feasibility of novel applications of hydrogen or support future hydrogen project decision making
The Hydrogen Innovation Fund can be administered by the Independent Electricity System Operator, which is opening applications for the fund in April 2023. Natural Resources Canada modelling shows that hydrogen could make up about 30 per cent of the country’s fuels and feedstock by 2050 and create 100,000 jobs in Ontario. By making investments early to explore applications for hydrogen in our clean electricity sector we’re paving the best way for the expansion of our own hydrogen economy.
“As a fuel that will be produced and used with little to no greenhouse gas emissions, hydrogen has tremendous potential to assist us meet our long-term economic and environmental goals,” said David Piccini, Ontario’s Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. “Our government will proceed to support innovation and investment in clean technologies that can position Ontario because the clean manufacturing and transportation hub of the long run while leading Canada in greenhouse gas emission reductions.”
The province can be advancing work to develop the Niagara Hydrogen Centre, led by Atura Power, which might increase the quantity of low-carbon hydrogen produced in Ontario by eight-fold. This revolutionary project would help balance the electricity grid while using previously unutilized water on the Sir Adam Beck generating station to provide electricity for a hydrogen electrolyzer. To support the implementation of the project, the IESO entered right into a contract for grid regulation services on the Sir Adam Beck station starting in 2024, which can support low-carbon hydrogen production on the Niagara Hydrogen Centre.
These investments construct on Ontario’s clean energy advantage as our government makes progress on the Low-Carbon Hydrogen Strategy that laid out eight concrete actions to make Ontario a frontrunner in the most recent frontier of energy innovation – the hydrogen economy.
Featured image: Atura Power has chosen the Niagara region as its first Ontario site for large-scale hydrogen production. Image credit: Atura Power.