Atura Power selects Niagara for the Niagara Hydrogen Centre

Today's announcement of a Niagara-based Atura Power hydrogen facility was part of the Province's release of its hydrogen strategy. Ontario Minister of Energy Todd Smith and Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks David Piccini announced the strategy at an event today in Niagara Falls, highlighting Atura Power's green hydrogen project. The provincial government is supporting the project by providing an exemption from the Gross Revenue Charge from 2024 to 2033 for electricity generated at the Sir Adam Beck Generating Station used specifically for hydrogen production under prescribed conditions.

Watch the announcement

Green and low-carbon hydrogen will reduce or offset emissions in a variety of applications, including:

• low carbon fuel substitute for feedstock in high-emitting industrial processes;
• blending hydrogen with natural gas to reduce its carbon impact; and,
• powering fuel cells in vehicles, which could help replace diesel engines in the heavy-duty and long-haul trucking industry.

Atura Power is completing preliminary steps for this electrolyzer facility to support a final investment decision by summer 2022. Pending an award of federal funding, this facility could be commissioned as soon as early 2024. Atura Power is evaluating additional sites in Ontario for green and low-carbon hydrogen production, including Halton Hills, Windsor, Lambton-Sarnia and Nanticoke.

Quick facts

• Green hydrogen is produced with electrolyzers using water and electricity as inputs. Electrolysis is the process of breaking water (H₂O) molecules into hydrogen and oxygen molecules using electricity.
• Atura Power can be both a producer and an anchor consumer of hydrogen by using green hydrogen in its combined cycle gas turbine facilities, reducing emissions from these facilities. At the same time, Atura Power will be a catalyst for the hydrogen economy by ensuring supply of green hydrogen as industries adopt low carbon solutions.
• The proposed project will have a positive direct and indirect economic impact in Niagara, Ontario, and Canada, with direct jobs created during both construction and operation and further employment potential in the supply chain.
• As an electricity grid innovation, the Niagara Hydrogen Centre electrolyzer will be capable of providing regulation services and can balance the Ontario electricity grid in real time.
• Both the federal and provincial governments have noted the potential for hydrogen to play a key role in helping meet climate change objectives. Read the Federal and Provincial strategies.

Quotes

"Ontario is building a hydrogen economy, and Atura Power is ready to play a key role in helping establish a supply of this low carbon fuel," said Chris Fralick, President Atura Power. "Supply of hydrogen produced by Atura Power will enable heavy emitting industries and transport to plan their transition to lower carbon fuels. We look forward to working with our partners and industry leaders to help advance this clean technology, bringing the Niagara region to the forefront of the clean energy and hydrogen economy."

"Through our Hydrogen Strategy, we are leveraging our province's world-class talent and clean energy advantage as we position Ontario as a world leader in hydrogen," said Minister Smith. "When energy is clean, reliable and affordable, our whole province benefits. I look forward to working with all our partners to build critical infrastructure for the industries of the future including new hydrogen production projects that will create good paying jobs, grow our economy and reduce emissions."

About Atura Power

Atura Power, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, plays a key role in the province's electricity system. With plants in Windsor, Halton Hills, Toronto and Napanee, its fleet of combined-cycle plants is flexible and dispatchable - an enabler of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power. Atura Power is implementing a low-cost, low-carbon hydrogen program that will assist in the reduction of greenhouse gases, while supporting the development and adoption of this key clean-energy source on a path to an economy wide net-zero emissions future. As an enabler of clean energy, Atura Power is positioned to help build the hydrogen economy in Ontario. Low-carbon hydrogen will be an important tool in the fight against climate change and supports the net-zero goals outlined in Ontario Power Generation's Climate Change Plan.

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