First Hydrogen secures green hydrogen and zero-emission vehicle production sites

First Hydrogen Corp. announces that it has entered into an agreement with the City of Shawinigan for the purchase of two plots of land.

First Hydrogen’s project plan is to produce up to 35MW of green hydrogen using advanced electrolysis technology and distribute the hydrogen within the Montreal-Quebec City corridor for use with First Hydrogen’s light commercial vehicles (LCV), as well as supporting other hydrogen-fuelled vehicles and applications in the province. First Hydrogen LCVs are planned to be assembled in Shawinigan for distribution throughout North America, in combination with the Company’s Hydrogen-as-a-Service product offering.

The assembly factory will be designed for an annual production of 25,000 vehicles per year when at full capacity. Feasibility engineering and related site development activities will start once the agreements are fully ratified by the city of Shawinigan municipal authorities, expected to be held sometime in May.

The Company previously announced that the City of Shawinigan, Quebec will be the location of its first green hydrogen ecosystem, which will include facilities for green hydrogen production and the assembly of First Hydrogen’s zero-emission commercial vehicles. In addition to supporting the Quebec Government’s Green Hydrogen and Bioenergy Strategy, First Hydrogen’s plans strongly align with the future Energy Transition Valley Innovation Zone and the Hydrogen Research Institute (IRH) of the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières.

Feasibility engineering will be completed by mid-2024, enabling subsequent project development steps for full project commercialization by 2026-27, aligning well with Provincial, Canadian and US emission reduction plans.

Balraj Mann stated, “Shawinigan is the ideal place for us to establish a hydrogen ecosystem. The city and region are very well positioned, with rich renewable energy resources, developing industrial communities and a growing green energy economy. It will also be very important to work closely with the regional education network to create the skills required for tomorrow. We are very happy that Investissement Québec recommended Shawinigan to us and we project that our combined projects will ultimately create hundreds of jobs for the region.”

Luc Arvisais commented, “After great collaboration work between First Hydrogen and our economic development team, the company chose to implement their hydrogen production project within the J. Armand Foucher Industrial Park in close proximity to major Hydro Quebec substations and transmission lines that connect Shawinigan with extensive renewable energy assets within the Province. The zero-emission vehicle project will be located in the Energy Technopark. Both sites have sufficient space for the long-term growth of First Hydrogen’s North American vehicle and hydrogen production plan.”