The proponent of a proposed peak-power plant that may be built in Shuniah says he remains confident the facility’s turbines could one day be converted to burn clean hydrogen.
The company confirms the operation would initially run on natural gas, which critics say will add fuel to a global climate emergency linked to fossil-fuel burning.
Current H2 co-owner John Douglas said the province needs to prepare for an era when hydrogen-fuelled power plants become the norm in Canada.
The company’s proposed $400-million peaker plant in Shuniah would be part of the new trend, Douglas contends.
“It’s going to be a huge business for Ontario,” said the Toronto-based Douglas, who was visiting Thunder Bay on Wednesday. “The world will come to our door.”
The proposed Shuniah facility, to be located on private property about five kilometres north of Highway 11-17, would create about 20 full-time jobs, Douglas said.
Peaker plants are designed to operate during periods when demand for electricity is high.
Douglas said the proposed Shuniah facility could be in service in three to four years, once approvals and permits have been acquired.
Current H2 is seeking a municipal support resolution from the Municipality of Shuniah, something it must obtain as part of its application to Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO).
Shuniah Mayor Wendy Landry has declared a conflict because she’s an IESO board member; she’s exempted herself from any council deliberations regarding the Current H2 project.
However, Landry confirmed on Wednesday that council has yet to make any decisions about Current H2’s request for a municipal support resolution.
Critics of the project contend the market for hydrogen may well fail to materialize, so that the company’s project — if it becomes built — will burn natural gas for the foreseeable future.
“Even if (hydrogen) costs come down spectacularly, to utilize hydrogen, they would need to add electrolyzers and storage tanks at great cost,” the Thunder Bay-based Citizens United for a Sustainable Planet said this week in a news release.
“What they’ve proposed is actually just a gas plant.”
The group is urging Shuniah council not to support the Current H2 proposal because “building fossil fuel burning infrastructure in a climate emergency is madness.”
Douglas, a chartered accountant with a background in the clean-energy sector, said the Shuniah plant’s turbines could easily be converted to burn hydrogen, a growing trend in parts of Europe.
“The hydrogen economy is coming, and part of the process is education,” he said. Current H2 is eyeing two similar projects in southern Ontario.
Meanwhile, an online petition opposing the location of a separate Shuniah project — a proposed $200-million battery storage plant — has grown to more than 860 signatures.
Those opposed to the PowerBank Corp. project say it shouldn’t be built on Mount Baldy Road because that would be too close to residential homes and a ski resort, should it ever catch fire.
PowerBank is also requesting a municipal support resolution from Shuniah’s council before it applies to the Independent Electricity System Operator.
