In mid-September, the government of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia announced a 5 billion watt “green” hydrogen power plant.
The plant was supposed to deliver 200,000 tons of ammonia to Europe every year, without using fossil fuels.
As November approaches, there is no possibility that green power will be available by the time the EverWind Fuels facility comes into operation, Energy Mix and Halifax Examiner have learned in a joint investigation. in partnership with the Guardian.
In fact, the project touted for its potential to convert wind power into a much-needed green commodity will be powered in part by coal, at least in its first years of operation.
The picture is even more complicated in a province facing a 2030 deadline to shut down the coal-fired plants that supplied 51% of its electricity in 2019, even as the rise of heat pumps and electric vehicles drives up demand for electricity. ‘electricity.
This effort, in turn, is a critical part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government’s signed commitment to phase out all remaining coal-fired electricity and reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45% by 2030.
Nova Scotia has five large onshore wind farms slated to start up by 2025, but they will only account for 30% of its electricity consumption – not considering new demand, let alone the needs of the EverWind Generating Station.
In a Sept. 20 statement, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston’s office said a separate set of leases would provide “5 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030 to support [the province’s] the nascent green hydrogen industry. But that’s just the deadline for offering leases to wind farm developers, with actual production expected around 2038, a provincial spokesperson later said. The 5 gigawatts, she added, is a goal, not a firm commitment.
Read more: Find the complete series in two parts here and here.
Green hydrogen is produced from fresh water by a process of electrolysis. It is often used to make ammonia, which is easier to store and transport. It only gets the “green” label if it is made from renewable electricity.
The EverWind project in Point Tupper, Nova Scotia, has two phases, said company founder and CEO Trent Vichie. The first is expected to start in 2025 and convert hydrogen into 200,000 tonnes of green ammonia that year. This will require 200,000 gallons (757,000 liters) of water per day from nearby Lake Landrie, or 2% of the lake’s capacity, said Ken Summers, environmental affairs adviser for EverWind.
In phase two, which is expected to start in 2026, the plan is to produce 1 million tonnes of green ammonia per year for export to Europe.
In August, EverWind also signed memorandums of understanding with German energy companies Uniper and E.On, each for 500,000 tonnes per year of green ammonia produced at Point Tupper.
The ammonia will be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, adding another source of carbon emissions if ships are fueled – as they likely will be – with highly polluting, carbon-intensive heavy fuel oil.
And it is unclear exactly how soon this “green” hydrogen project will have access to green energy. The EverWind website claims it will use local wind power for carbon-neutral fuel production. But asked where those supplies would come from, Vichie replied in mixed messages.
“Just the Nova Scotia grid,” for the first phase, he said. This system is owned by Nova Scotia Power (NSPC), which the province privatized in 1992, and is still heavily dependent on coal.
NSPC spokeswoman Jacqueline Foster said five new wind projects would come on stream in Nova Scotia by 2025. At that time, she said wind energy would account for about 30% of the provincial electricity supply.
Vichie said EverWind’s supply would not come from any of these projects. Other wind developments “didn’t make the cut” and some vendors “didn’t bother to bid” on the province’s recent call for proposals. “So there are projects that are ready that are not under construction,” he said.
But even by 2030, the deadline set by the NSPC to phase out coal, the utility still expects only 80% of its supply to come from renewables. In 2025, the hydrogen and ammonia produced with electricity from the NSPC grid would be based on an electricity mix comprising coal and 30% wind energy.
Summers said the Point Tupper operation will be “off the grid” “immediately and for some time.” He noted that environmental assessments for wind projects are a long process, so the project would not initially be powered by wind farms.
Hydrogen from the EverWind plant won’t be “truly 100% green until it’s fully renewable”, he added.
According to a provincial government spokesperson, the EverWind project is just one of four green hydrogen developers interested in export projects in Nova Scotia. The other three, she said, are Bear Head Energy, Fortescue Metals Group and Northland Power.
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