The Nova Scotia Environment Department has approved a proposed green hydrogen and ammonia production and shipping facility for Point Tupper in Cape Breton.
Bear Head Energy Inc. registered the project seven weeks ago, proposing to construct and operate a green hydrogen facility at the site of the previously approved Bear Head LNG project in the Point Tupper industrial park on the Strait of Canso at Bear Head in Richmond County.
“Following a review of the information provided by Bear Head Energy Inc. and the information provided by the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia, and the public during consultation on the environmental assessment, I am satisfied that any adverse effects or significant environmental effects of the undertaking can be adequately mitigated through compliance with the attached terms and conditions,” provincial Environment Minister Tim Halman said in approving the project.
The proposal would take water from nearby Landrie Lake and split it into oxygen and hydrogen for the purpse of using the hydrogen to replace fossil fuels or to combine it with nitrogen to produce anhydrous ammonia, an efficient and widely used source of nitrogen fertilizer.
At peak operation, the Bear Head facility would be capable of producing two million tonnes a year of anhydrous ammonia, which would be shipped to world markets by dozens of specialty marine carriers.
Construction of the facility is scheduled to begin next year with plant commissioning and ammonia production scheduled for late 2027.
Thus far, there is no plan to provide any provincial funding for the project, which will not be expected to produce any energy for domestic use that could help the province meet its goals to get off coal-fired electricity and move toward renewable sources of energy.
“There has been no conversation about that as of yet with my department from any of the stakeholders,” Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton said at Province House in Halifax on Wednesday about potential provincial funding.
“They came to my door, if you will, my desk, with conversation that they have ambitious goals and targets that align with government but there has been no talk about finances.”
Last year, EverWind Ltd. announced that it would convert the former NuStar transshipment terminal at Point Tupper into a green hydrogen plant to produce hydrogen and ammonia from wind power by 2025.
The first phase of EverWind’s project would produce about 200,000 tonnes per year, increasing through later phases as more wind turbines are built both onshore and potentially offshore.
Halman’s environmental approval of the Bear Head Energy Inc. project is contingent on a number of conditions, including monitoring and emergency regulations, that the company not conduct any activity or remove any vegetation within 30 metres of a watercourse, monitoring and emergency regulations and that the Bear Head Inc. provide an air quality monitoring and noise plan.
“I have total faith that Mr. Halman and his staff have putforward the pathway to have an environmentally safe and work safe process,” Rushton said.
“In talking with Mr. Halman, I know that inspectors regularly visit these sites,” he said. “As we go forward, it is kind of a new era for Nova Scotia. We are going to be learning as we go as well. I think the government has to be nimble to respond to any issues. This is very exciting for the province.”
Rushton said he has not seen any indication that the Bear Head Inc. project will not go forward.
“We have many jurisdictions around the world that are knocking at our door looking for green hydrogen and they are looking at Nova Scotia because of our natural deep water ports and they are looking at Nova Scotia because we have the ability to have green electricity produced by offshore and onshore wind. We have some of the best wind regimes in the world. … By all measurements, I believe we are quite a few steps ahead of other jurisdictions.”
Rushton said the province has to initially build up largescale green hydrogen production for export “before we (realize) domestic usage but in estimates we did talk about the opportunities, what green hydrogen may look like for our domestic use, our domestic generation for electricity.
“What we’ve basically been doing for the green hydrogen spectrum is making sure that there are legislative and regulatory pathways for success for us to meet our goals on offshore and green hydrogen,” Rushton said.
