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Big day for hydrogen

Miawpukek First Nation ready to hype hydrogen as German chancellor arrives in Port au Port

PETER JACKSON LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER peter.jackson @thetelegram.com @pjackson_nl Peter Jackson is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering Indigenous affairs for The Telegram.

Today, Aug. 23, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in Stephenville on the Port au Port Peninsula to help kick off one of the most ambitious green hydrogen projects in the world to date.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also in town with a delegation of 70 people — including CEOS of top German industries such as Bayer and Volkswagon — to sign an accord committing to purchase Canadian green hydrogen, although details have not yet been released.

The Port au Port project by World Energy GH2 will be a boon for the Qalipu First Nation, but it isn’t the only game in town.

An Indigenous group from another part of the island is also getting in on the action, and signed a separate deal Monday for the production of as much as 700,000 to 900,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually from wind turbines.

Hydrogen is converted to ammonia for transport to markets because it has a higher energy density.

The term “green” simply refers to the way they are produced, i.e. through nonemissions mean such as hydro and wind energy.

COAST OF PROPELLERS

World Energy GH2, a subsidiary of World Energy which is chaired by Nova Scotia billionaire John Risley, has named the Port au Port development Project Nujio’qonik, when means “where the sand blows” in the Qalipu language.

The company says green hydrogen can be used to drive de-carbonization in hard-toabate sectors such as steelmaking, aviation and agriculture.

The project is expected to deliver 1,800 direct construction jobs, 300 direct operations jobs and 3,500 indirect jobs.

By the end of three phases of development, the local coastline will be dotted with 164 giant wind turbines that are expected to produce three megawatts of power and will drive the production of 1.4 million metric tonnes of ammonia annually.

The company, a consortium of four Canadian partners, says Project Nujio’qonik will include associated transmission and supporting infrastructure to power a 0.5-GW hydrogen/ ammonia production facility in the Port of Stephenville.

Germany had already decided to transition away from its reliance on Russian oil and gas, but the war in Ukraine has created a more urgent need for alternative sources of fuel.

However, it’s not clear how much of a dent the west coast project would put in Germany’s required inventory, and production is not expected to start for another two years.

The project has also divided the local community, with many lamenting that their pristine coastal landscape will be scarred by dozens of turbines.

But Risley said Monday he’s optimistic for the success of the project, which is not receiving any government funding.

“We’re negotiating a number of contracts with what are known in the industry as offtakers,” he told The Telegram. “We’ve got lots of interest and we’re very optimistic about the prospects of signing a favourable contract provided we can get energy into the market when we say we can, which is late 2024 or early 2025.”

And he said there’s plenty of room for competition.

“There’s a lot of potential in the area, thanks to the wind, and the potential isn’t limited to Argentia or the Burin Peninsula, or the area around Port Aux Basques or Stephenville. There is potential beyond that, and that’s what’s so exciting.”

INDIGENOUS PARTNERSHIPS

For Miawpukek First Nation (MFN), wind may prove to be the latest in a decades-long success story of entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency for the Conne River band.

On Monday, Chief Mi’sel Joe was on the west coast to sign a memorandum of understanding with Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) to pave the way for green ammonia production.

FFI’S Project Lynx, to be developed in and around the Stephenville, St. George’s and Channel-port aux Basques areas, could create up to 2,000 jobs.

“We are very pleased with FFI’S approach to development in Newfoundland,” Chief

Mi’sel Joe said in a statement. “We have been stewards of this land since the beginning of time and using renewable energy to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia to get the world to net carbon zero aligns with our values as a nation. We fully support this strategic partnership.”

For its part, FFI says partnering with the Indigenous community was a no-brainer.

“We respect this country’s first peoples’ knowledge of the land, and we strongly believe that involving Indigenous communities at the very beginning of project conception is the right approach,” FFI Canada country manager Stephen Appleton said. “We are pleased to work with Miawpukek First Nation to inform the next steps of this project.”

Miawpukek already partnered with Red Earth Energy in June to do a feasibility study on development in the area of Conne River and Bay D’espoir, and explore other possibilities on the east coast of the island.

And a third company, Source3 Energy. is partnering with MFN on a another proposed development, Project Takamkuk, which could produce up to 1.5 million tonnes per annum of green ammonia and create up to 1,200 direct and 1,800 indirect jobs.

MFN plans to showcase its projects during today’s signing ceremony in Stephenville.

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2022-08-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

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