John Risley Says Atlantic Canada Needs To Move Fast To Capitalize On Green Hydrogen

HALIFAX – If you believe the hype, “green hydrogen” might be one of the most important technologies in the fight to decarbonize the global economy.

Its potential to ween pollution-rich industries off fossil fuels is massive and the global demand for the fledgling technology is growing.

The market hasn’t yet caught up to that demand and jurisdictions across the globe are scrambling to fill it.

Atlantic Canada, in many ways perfectly positioned to produce green hydrogen, could be one of the industry’s global leaders. However, one of the region’s leading business voices worries vague policies and strong environmental protections are getting in the way.

One-hundred billion dollars

John Risley is best known as the former head of Clearwater Seafoods. These days, he’s most involved with his family’s private investment firm, CFFI Ventures.

CFFI has a significant stake in World Energy GH2 and Risley is the chairman of World Energy G2H’s board.

The company is behind a high-profile green hydrogen project in Newfoundland that will see it ship green hydrogen to Europe through the Port of Stephenville. The company will create the clean-burning fuel at a plant in Stephenville with power from 164 wind turbines built throughout the Port au Port Peninsula.

It’s an ambitious project trying to carve out space in a growing global market.

Speaking at the CBRE Atlantic Market Outlook Breakfast on November 17 in Halifax, Risley said that, if Atlantic Canada plays its cards right, the region could host nearly a dozen similar projects over the next half-decade.

“If government gets it right—and this is a big caveat, remember there’s a qualifier here—if government gets it right, by 2030 we could have, my prediction, 100 billion dollars of projects underway here in Atlantic Canada,” he says.

“I’ve been in business longer than I care to remember and I’ve never seen an opportunity for Atlantic Canada as large as this.”

Risley says the potential in the region is “absolutely” there. However, the hydrogen market is a “global race” and he’s concerned about our region’s ability to capitalize on the opportunity.

“I do worry—I don’t mean this unkindly, please, [but] we’re a complacent lot,” he says.

The last, best hope for decarbonization?

So-called “green hydrogen” is a relatively new idea, but many see it as the most viable option for getting hard-to-decarbonize sectors away from fossil fuels; new technology is emerging that can replace diesel engines for cargo ships and long-haul trucks with hydrogen technology.

That has led to a massive global appetite for green hydrogen. However, it isn’t yet produced in massive quantities.

Atlantic Canada is set up to be one of the first jurisdictions to produce a significant amount of green hydrogen. The question Risley asks is: “are we going to do things to make sure we’re in the game?”

A jurisdiction needs a few key things to make producing green hydrogen viable.

Hydrogen burns cleanly and without significant greenhouse gas emissions. But most hydrogen production today uses an incredibly carbon-intensive process.

To make hydrogen green, it must be produced with green energy. Right now, the most reliable and powerful form of green energy for this purpose is wind.

That means jurisdictions that want in on the burgeoning green hydrogen market must have enough wind resources. It must also have deep-water ports that make transporting green hydrogen products viable.

Atlantic Canada is set up well on those fronts. But Risley says the region has another thing working in its favour.

A ‘very, very competitive game’

The race for green hydrogen market share is global, which means Atlantic Canada must compete with well-resourced states with different permitting processes and environmental standards.

Global demand for green hydrogen is massive and Risley argues that those who need it will go wherever, and to whomever, they must to get it.

But Risley says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine revealed how significant the supply chain is and reinforced the importance of stability and good relations with suppliers.

Canada, as a stable country friendly with most other nations, is “extremely well-positioned to take advantage of that,” he says.

“I do think we are incredibly well-positioned but, as I said, this is a very, very competitive game,” he warns.

An ‘enormously risky bet’

Risley argues Atlantic Canada will miss its opportunity in the green hydrogen industry if governments don’t quickly drill down and figure out policy and permitting.

“The scale of the industry, and the impact on the supply chains, the scarcity and the availability of key components of building these projects is going to be really important,” he says. “Every day I bang the table with provincial and federal officials and say, ‘guys we’ve gotta get onto policy certainty here.’”

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Risley says governments, both federally and provincially, are listening and on the right track. But he worries about things like new climate commitments from the U.S. that will pump $400 billion into green energy projects.

“We need rules and regulations, and we don’t need them next April or May or June, or six months after that, we need them now,” he says.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signed a declaration of joint intent that would see Canada start shipping green hydrogen to Germany by 2025.

The agreement relies on the World Energy project and Risley says procurement needs to start in January to meet that 2025 commitment.

However, the project is still in the middle of the environmental assessment process and Risley says they’re not yet sure of the federal government’s exact policy positions, and what hurdles they may face.

“That’s an enormously risky bet to ask someone to take, but if we don’t do it we are definitely not going to be able to deliver in 2025,” he says.

Risley says Canada doesn’t permit green energy projects much differently than mines or fossil fuel projects. He argues that the environmental benefit of projects like green hydrogen should get a faster pathway through the permit process.

“But we’ve got to spend a year worrying about where the moose crosses the road and where the caribou calve. And I’m not saying that stuff isn’t important, but there’s no context put around the priorities,” he says.

Government policy, he adds, needs to “wake up to the fact that we’ve got to make tough decisions.”

Trevor Nichols is Huddle’s editor, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].