EverWind Fuels promotes itself as “a pioneering developer of green hydrogen and ammonia production in Atlantic Canada.” EverWind touts its plans to produce green hydrogen using wind energy and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as a way to “decarbonize the world,” admonishing us that “We must take immediate action to end our dependence on fossil fuels.”
Yet EverWind is now linking up with a fossil gas — aka natural gas — company in Nova Scotia, Eastward Energy (formerly Heritage Gas), looking to blend hydrogen and gas in the province.
A March 18 EverWind press release says the two companies will work together to “develop and scale up the hydrogen value chain in Nova Scotia.”
Said John Hawkins, president of EastWard Energy, “Eastward Energy’s hydrogen-ready gas distribution system, supported by large-scale green hydrogen projects like EverWind’s, will enable an accelerated energy transition in Nova Scotia.”
Eastward Energy has helped fund a new hydrogen applications research lab at Dalhousie University, which will “test the limits of blending hydrogen” into the company’s natural gas system.
The EverWind press release also quoted its founder and CEO, Trent Vichie:
We are excited to partner with Eastward Energy in our mission to accelerate the adoption of green hydrogen in Nova Scotia … This is a first step toward setting up the supply chains necessary to transition Nova Scotia’s energy sectors from imported fossil fuels to locally produced clean fuels.
We’ll come back those claims, but first some context.
Pursuing hydrogen dreams in Germany
The announcement came the same day Vichie was in Hamburg, Germany, where he was part of the Canadian delegation attending the “Canada-Germany Hydrogen and Ammonia-Producer-Offtaker Conference.”
Related: Canadian and German officials pursue dream of cross-oceanic ‘green’ hydrogen trade
Related: Tim Houston backs out of Hamburg hydrogen conference
The conference brought together German Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, and “Canadian hydrogen and ammonia producers” who were provided private space to meet with “German offtakers.”
In 2022, EverWind signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) with two German utilities — E.On and Uniper — for the offtake of up to a million tonnes of green ammonia a year by 2026. EverWind’s plan is to produce green hydrogen and convert it into green ammonia in Point Tupper, Nova Scotia.
In 2022, EverWind Fuels bought the NuStar terminal in Point Tupper. The terminal is one of the largest storage and blending facilities for refined petroleum products in Atlantic Canada, handling fossil fuels for markets in the region and the United States.
Oil tankers continue to come and go at Point Tupper under EverWind Fuels.
EverWind intends to construct a plant to produce green hydrogen and ammonia at that site, and power it with wind energy from large onshore wind projects it is proposing in the province.
To date, however, EverWind has not signed firm contracts with the German utilities for the offtake of its green ammonia.
Appearing in November 2023 before the Colchester Municipal Council, Vichie, who made his fortune in private equity business in New York before turning his attention to Nova Scotia and green hydrogen, talked up a storm about the EverWind project, his Australian roots, how hard he works, and “the huge amount of money” — $200 million — he had already spent.
The following day, Export Development Canada provided EverWind with $166 million in financing.
However, that is still a long way from the billions that EverWind’s proposed projects in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland will cost.
MOUs but no binding contracts
In Hamburg, Ministers Habeck and Wilkinson did sign a non-binding MOU “to implement a transatlantic hydrogen corridor” to “accelerate commercial-scale hydrogen trade between Germany and Canada.”
As the Examiner reported here, Habeck told German journalist Karin Finkenzeller that Canada and Germany each plan to commit to spending 200 million Euros ($294 million) to make up the difference between the high world price for green hydrogen, and the lower price that companies are willing to pay for it.
However, no binding offtake contracts for Canadian green hydrogen or ammonia were signed in Hamburg.
Finkenzeller asked Vichie whether the discussions with politicians and entrepreneurs at the hydrogen conference had been to his satisfaction.
“No comment,” Vichie replied.
So perhaps it comes as no surprise that EverWind is now looking to Eastward Energy in Nova Scotia as a possible market for green hydrogen, and the possibility of blending the hydrogen into Eastward Energy’s fossil gas networks.
But what would that mean for the climate, and for EverWind’s claims that green hydrogen will play a critical role in achieving decarbonisation goals?
‘Locally produced’ and ‘clean fuels’?
Natural gas is a deceptively benign name for fossil gas that is mostly methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, which has major climate impacts. “Natural” gas is often touted as being “cleaner” than coal, with a lower climate impact. But recent research on methane leaks during gas extraction in the U.S. cast doubt on those claims.
Until 2018, fossil gas for the Maritime provinces came from Nova Scotia’s offshore. Since then, the three provinces have been using gas imported from the U.S. and liquefied natural gas delivered to St. John, New Brunswick.
Blending H2 with fossil gas is ‘bollocks’
Paul Martin is a chemical engineer with a 30-year history of working with, making, and using hydrogen, and a member of the Hydrogen Science Coalition. He describes himself as a “tireless advocate for a fossil fuel-free future.”
Martin has called the hype over hydrogen for decarbonisation an “epidemic of hopium addiction,” and “a combination of wishful thinking, magical thinking, and green-wishing.”
Related: Hydrogen hype: ‘History will have a good laugh’ at us. A Q and A with Michael Liebreich.
Martin did a recent analysis of the emissions from and efficiency of blending hydrogen into fossil gas networks, a deep-dive into whether it’s a cost-effective decarbonisation strategy.
He concluded it was “bollocks.”
Martin noted that the maximum percentage of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions abatement with the technology “is small.”
“The generally agreed maximum of 20% H2 [hydrogen] into the gas network is the most it can handle without major changes to the network and replacement of all end use equipment connected to it,” he wrote.
That works out to 7% by energy content, Martin calculated, “hence 7% GHG emission reduction at absolutely maximum, even with hydrogen as pure and free of GHG emissions as the driven snow.” In other words, green hydrogen, which is what EverWind plans to produce using renewable — wind — power in Nova Scotia.
“My objection is that gas blending isn’t about decarbonisation, but rather, about exactly the opposite,” Martin wrote. “It’s a greenwashing scheme, intended to make us feel better about continuing to burn fossil gas for longer.”
“And that’s why the gas industry is so interested in doing it,” Martin concluded.
Me: So are you really a ‘green energy company’ who’s existance is to save us from ourselves?
Evergreen: Well yes, but actually no.
Narrator: Told you so.
This hydrogen blending with natural gas has been reviewed for years, and it seems the results are not compelling, other than, to the companies touting it.
https://www.csagroup.org/article/an-overview-of-csa-group-standards-codes-and-activities-for-the-hydrogen-ecosystem/
Energy experts agree that green hydrogen has the potential to eliminate our reliance on fossil fuels in industries which either currently rely on hydrogen derived from natural gas or implement innovative processes that are free from fossil fuels.
However, the EastWard/EverWind concept of blending hydrogen with natural gas is an incredibly foolish use of a valuable product for the reason this article outlines. This proposal is analogous to mixing a tablespoon of fresh lobster with a can of Spam. Inevitably, what you end up with still tastes like Spam yet you’ve squandered good lobster in the process.
Excellent article, Joan, with an ending that will hopefully stick in a lot of people’s minds as we think about our climate future and what solutions we will accept.
“My objection is that gas blending isn’t about decarbonisation, but rather, about exactly the opposite,” Martin wrote. “It’s a greenwashing scheme, intended to make us feel better about continuing to burn fossil gas for longer.”
“And that’s why the gas industry is so interested in doing it,” Martin concluded.