Building British Columbia’s hydrogen economy

In partnership with British Columbia’s (BC) newly established BC Hydrogen Office, the BC Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) is leading a collaborative effort to create a blueprint for BC’s emerging clean hydrogen sector.

As a first step, CICE has partnered with Deloitte to produce a BC Hydrogen Investment Blueprint that will drive investment in the low carbon hydrogen sector and lay a foundation for establishing a hydrogen hub in Metro Vancouver.

“Hydrogen will play a key role in helping BC transition to cleaner energy solutions as we work toward meeting legislated 2030-2050 greenhouse gas reduction targets,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation. “Since our government released BC’s hydrogen strategy in July 2021, we’ve received proposals for 40 hydrogen projects, representing potential investments worth $4.8 billion.”

“BC is well positioned to be a frontrunner in the post-pandemic economy with a focus on having a high-care, low-carbon economy that works for everyone,” said the Honourable Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation.”Through our StrongerBC Economic Plan, we are on a mission to meet our climate commitments, renewable and low-carbon hydrogen will play an essential role in developing sustainable opportunities for businesses and people all across BC.”

The Blueprint, which is expected to be publicly available in August of this year, will highlight the value proposition for prospective investors by focusing on actionable opportunities, such as:

• hydrogen supply, including various means of low-carbon hydrogen production established in the Province;
• infrastructure or network requirements to enable hydrogen offtake for the industry and transportation sectors;
• demand opportunities that are the best applications for hydrogen to optimize emission reductions;
• opportunities to export BC produced hydrogen to global markets;
• gaps to be closed for upstream, midstream and downstream to enable investments;
• key government mechanisms to enable the hydrogen market, including policies, regulatory requirements,

The conclusions and recommendations in the Blueprint will be based on extensive research, including consultation with a Guiding Community. The Community includes: Bryan Buggey (Vancouver Economic Commission), Cory Paterson (BC Trucking Association), David Bennett (FortisBC), Elisabeth Charmley (Vancouver Maritime Centre for Climate), Gerri Sinclair (Province of BC), Kwatuuma Cole Sayers (Indigenous Community Representation), Lejla Uzicanin (Invest Vancouver), Lester Dyck (BC Hydro), Matthew Klippenstein (Canadian Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association), Ralf Nielsen (TransLink), Marion Town (YVR), Ronan Chester (Port of Vancouver), Robert Pinchuk (Parkland), Pradeep Appasani (Parkland), and Roger Quan (Metro Vancouver).

“CICE is proud to be taking the lead on this initiative. This is just the beginning of what promises to be a game-changing moment in BC’s journey to net zero,” says Yemi Adefulu, Deputy Executive Director of CICE. “When we established CICE just over six months ago, we knew BC’s clean hydrogen ecosystem would be among our very first priorities. It’s just that important—to BC, and to the planet.”