Hydrogen from hydrocarbons. Ive been going on about it for over a decade.
We dont have electricity to do electrolysis to release hydrogen from water so well go the other route and get from NG which is 80% more efficient.
Obviously, the efficiency isn’t a concern as much as the optics and shoring up Liberal votes pre-election.
The Canadian and German governments have signed a deal to co-operate on exporting hydrogen fuel to Europe, setting an ambitious target of 2025 to begin shipments from Eastern Canada – where a single hydrogen production plant has yet to be built.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signed the agreement in the western Newfoundland town of Stephenville, near the site of a proposed wind farm project that would power the production of hydrogen from electrolysis.
The joint declaration of intent makes clear the agreement is not legally binding and stipulates it will be up to Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources and Germany’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action to keep track of whether it’s making progress on its goals.
I am still thinking this is a smokescreen for the Automotive industry in Germany to get a toehold on the North American electric vehicle announcement in the US in the last week….sourcing Materials for the batteries out of Canada and final assembly in this market for US exposure and subsidies.
“The participants aim to closely collaborate on all aspects necessary to kick-start the hydrogen economy and to create a transatlantic supply chain for hydrogen well before 2030, with first deliveries aiming for 2025,” the agreement says. Etc…
Canadian-German deal sets no targets for volumes of hydrogen produced and contains no commitments of new money to help commence exports by the target date
apple.news
The Canadian-German agreement sets no targets for volumes of hydrogen produced and contains no commitments of new money to help commence exports to Europe by 2025.
Mr. Trudeau, who wants to reduce use of fossil fuels, on Monday cast doubt on the business case for exporting natural gas directly from the East Coast or Quebec to Europe, saying locations for plants to convert the fuel to liquefied natural gas are too far from Western Canadian sources to be economical???
But the Canadian Gas Association, which represents the natural gas delivery industry, said this week that the biggest obstacle to building LNG facilities on the East Coast is regulatory uncertainty. The association said investors can’t be sure when or if the federal government will approve the necessary pipeline infrastructure.
Then mentioned almost like an afterthought….
In view of impending shortages of important raw materials for battery production, Volkswagen wants to rely more on Canada. The automaker and the Canadian government signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to secure access to Canadian raw materials for batteries in electric vehicles. The letter of intent was signed on Tuesday by outgoing VW CEO Herbert Diess and Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
Just an afterthought, nothing to see here, move along. The real story is the non-binding hydrogen shipping powered by windmills in Stevenville. It’ll START producing something moderately in maybe three years.
Even though we’re the world’s fifth largest producer and sixth largest exporter of natural gas, Canada lacks the pipeline and Liquid Natural Gas infrastructure to ship LNG from Canada’s east coast to Europe on ocean-going tankers. Go figure.
The most we could do is up our natural gas output slightly to the U.S. — where almost all of it goes — given that the Americans have the ability to do what we can’t.
The fact we’re a captive market to the U.S. means our natural gas has to be sold at a discount, costing our economy an estimated $9 billion annually.
It’s the same for oil — exports of which Putin is also curtailing to Europe — where we’re the world’s fourth-largest producer and third- largest exporter.
There, the economic hit we take because of having to sell it at a discount is estimated at $15 billion annually.
Even if we were to start construction of natural gas infrastructure to Canada’s east coast immediately (or even better being back in 2015 ‘cuz it was 2015!), the Trudeau government says it would take
three years
to get it running….so…Given Canada’s Byzantine regulatory structure for approving fossil fuel projects and the lack of clarity about the future of the sector, which would have to foot the bills, don’t count on it.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, visiting from Germany, downplayed Canada shipping natural gas to Germany to help make up for energy cuts by Russia, they were making a virtue of necessity. We can’t do it, anyway. Even though we’re the world’s fifth largest producer...
apple.news
Trudeau said he’s willing to look at streamlining the regulatory process regarding natural gas exports (but only if it’s refined into LNG in Eastern Canada) questions whether it’s economically feasible right now….
regardless of what industry states.
The most worrisome thing is that Scholz and Trudeau are doubling down on the thinking that created the energy crisis in the first place, with Germans facing rising prices for natural gas to heat their homes this winter, as well as possible rationing.
Both say the message from the energy crisis provoked by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is to move away from fossil fuels to wind and solar power faster.
That’s not the message.
The message is that when a country trades reliable energy (oil and gas) for unreliable energy (wind and solar power at their current levels of technology) it forfeits its energy security.