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Leaders of Canada and Germany signed a green hydrogen deal on Tuesday, paving the way for a transatlantic supply chain as Europe seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.
“This is a vote of confidence in Canada as a leader in clean energy,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a joint news conference with visiting Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“We, as a world, cannot continue to rely on authoritarian countries that will weaponize energy policies like Russia is doing, that don’t care about environmental impacts or labor rights or even human rights,” Trudeau added.
Moscow has cut energy exports to Europe in response to Western sanctions punishing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, forcing countries to seek alternatives.
Scholz said there is a need to discuss “short term restrictions and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) but long term the real potential lies in green hydrogen from the windy, sparsely populated Atlantic provinces”.
Canada is aiming to become a major producer and exporter of hydrogen and other related clean technologies to replace climate-warming fossil fuels, with Germany lined up as the first customer.
In a joint statement, Trudeau and Scholz outlined plans to “boost the hydrogen economy and create a transatlantic hydrogen supply chain.”
The first deliveries of Canadian hydrogen to Germany are to take place as early as 2025, the statement said.
Canada said it will also export hydrogen to the broader European market – “to contribute to European energy security” as the bloc seeks to end its reliance on Russian energy – as well as to Asia.
With a sizeable German business delegation in tow, the two leaders toured a site in Stephenville, Newfoundland, where US-based World Energy GH2 Inc. plans to build a hydrogen production facility powered by a 1-gigawatt, 164-turbine wind farm on the Port-au-Port peninsula.
The former pulp mill has significant wind resources, access to the electricity distribution grid and a port that can ship products to Europe.
The project is one of a dozen under consideration by the Newfoundland government since it lifted a moratorium on new wind farms and issued a call for proposals in July to build turbines on government land.
With an estimated cost of US$10 billion, it would be the largest single investment ever made in Canada’s Atlantic region.
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