November 13, 2024
Green or blue?: Quebec eyes overtaking Alberta to emerge as Canada's hydrogen hub
Cost of developing blue hydrogen well below green version, giving Alberta an early advantage that may not last for long.
Cost of developing blue hydrogen well below green version, giving Alberta an early advantage that may not last for long.

Quebec and Alberta are leveraging their respective strengths to emerge as hydrogen hubs, and hoping to take pole position in a nascent industry that’s gaining popularity amid a global move towards decarbonization.

Utility provider Hydro-Québec is aiming to position its home province as the ideal location to produce so-called ‘green’ hydrogen, capitalizing on its abundant hydroelectricity. Meanwhile, Albertaunveiledits natural gas vision and ambitions in October, which identified the export of ‘blue’ hydrogen products as one of the key planks of its diversification strategy.

Globally, hydrogen is being embraced as an emerging clean energy source, including in Canada where the federal government wants to make the country a “global supplier.” And the race to emerge as a hydrogen powerhouse has begun, with both Alberta and Quebec’s different strategies poised to capture at least a slice of the global market.

While hydrogen is emissions-free, the process of producing the element is often not clean. Using electrolysis technology, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen, which requires massive amounts of electricity. If the electricity is generated from fossil fuels such as natural gas, the resulting hydrogen is actually produced through an emissions-heavy process. ‘Grey’ hydrogen is produced from natural gas through steam methane reforming, which emits carbon dioxide. The incorporation of carbon capture technologies in the process, makes it ‘blue’ — like the one Alberta is advocating — leading to a low to moderate carbon intensity. Green hydrogen is produced by running an electric current through water using zero-carbon sources of electricity, such as hydro.

[Interesting Read]

Jack’s Note: For all of my lifetime ( 77 today) and probably much longer the province of Quebec has been blackmailing the rest of Canada with separation (and with great success I might add). This is just more of the same but it behooves me (once again) to ask what would happen if the ROC told this political ‘spoiled child’ something along the lines of ‘If you don’t like this country please bugger off. We’ll help you!’ and really mean it.

Not to put to large a point on it but Canadian politics has been seriously weighted in favour of the province of Quebec ever since the British won the battle on the Plains of Abraham and started catering to French interests to shut them up. In my view it’s far past time to change that picture or we will soon be in danger of watching the breakup of Canada as we know it. It’s a ‘no brainer’.

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