Announcements like one in November when the federal government kicked in $300 million for a $1.6-billion hydrogen project in Alberta could come to the Sarnia area if work by the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership and others in the region pays off.
The Lambton County-funded economic development agency teamed up with 20 local industry and research partners to position the Sarnia area as Ontario’s Hydrogen Hub to attract development the federal government says could create more than 350,000 jobs across the country in the coming years.
The partnership launched the community’s hydrogen initiative in 2021 and just released a strategic plan – prepared with funding from the federal government – aimed at securing some of the government funding, industry investment and new jobs promised with the expected growth in the low-carbon hydrogen sector .
More than 150,000 tonnes of hydrogen is already produced annually in the Sarnia area for use in refining and making chemicals and fertilizer but it’s mostly “grey” hydrogen because of the carbon footprint from its production.
Capturing those carbon emissions and sequestering them underground in geological formations can turn “grey” hydrogen into low-carbon “blue” hydrogen and the federal government believes low-carbon hydrogen could provide Canada with 30 per cent of its energy needs by 2020.
Matthew Slotwinski, with the economic partnership, called the plan “an internal roadmap that really drives” opportunities to take advantage of the coming investments in low-carbon hydrogen.
That includes removing barriers, such as a government restriction in Ontario against sequestering captured carbon underground.
“One of the largest opportunities for the Sarnia-Lambton area, given our abundance of natural gas, is to pursue what’s called blue hydrogen production,” Slotwinski said.
It requires capturing and sequestering carbon emissions.
“Right now, that’s prohibited in Ontario,” he said.
But, “there is a very strong stakeholder group representing the Sarnia-Lambton area that is working with the Ontario government to actively remove these barriers,” Slotwinski said.
“There is progress and barriers like that are on the way to being removed.”
At the same time, Slotwinski said, “We believe we have the infrastructure capabilities, workforce, necessary logistics and local stakeholders to be able to attract those very large projects in the multi-million-dollar – billion-dollar range.”
That would have “a massive impact on the local economy,” he said.
Atura Power, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, said in 2022 it was looking at the former Lambton Generation Station near Courtright as one of several potential sites for large-scale, low-carbon hydrogen production.
Slotwinski added there are also opportunities to pursue demonstration and pilot projects moving new hydrogen technologies to market, “similar to what we’ve been able to accomplish with the hybrid chemistry cluster.”
The hybrid chemistry cluster is a long-standing local initiative to attract bio-chemical industries to Lambton.
“The area has every opportunity to be Ontario’s leader in hydrogen production, demand, research, and associated investment, and now we have a roadmap on how to achieve long-term success on the drive to net zero, while capitalizing on the positive impacts for Sarnia-Lambton,” Dan Taylor, CEO of the economic partnership, said in a news release.
The opportunities for the Sarnia area are driven by the federal government’s push to have a net-zero carbon economy by 2050 and the desire in the local community to reduce its emissions, Slotwinski said.
“It really is an opportunity for us to diversify within what we already do well, to complement our existing industry, and really bring new investments and jobs to the area,” he said.