A $49-million investment from the Canadian government into Vancouver-based HTEC is an important step toward financing its $472-million facility to produce hydrogen fuel from an industrial by-product.

The funding will go to the hydrogen fuel infrastructure company’s planned hydrogen liquifier project in North Vancouver, which Sabina Russell, vice-president of clean fuels, calls a flagship asset for HTEC.

On a 20-acre property it acquired in April 2024, HTEC will install equipment that captures hydrogen from vented gases generated by a sodium chlorate facility. Once purified, it will be condensed into a liquid and transported to HTEC’s growing network of hydrogen refuelling sites in British Columbia.

“This (will be) the cleanest, lowest-carbon-intensity hydrogen you can get in British Columbia,” Russell said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.

With a planned capacity of 15 tonnes of hydrogen per day - enough to fuel over 100,000 heavy-duty fuel-cell electric trucks per year- it will play a pivotal role in HTEC’s H2 Gateway program. The initiative aims to expand the company’s production and distribution infrastructure in its home province.

HTEC's liquifier plant

HTEC distributes hydrogen fuel and operates passenger-vehicle fuelling stations in B.C., with five open currently. Its first heavy-duty vehicle station is scheduled to open in the fall.

The company sees heavy-duty hydrogen trucks as a key segment which can expand the market for the low-carbon fuel. With the first Class 8 fuel cell trucks being introduced to B.C., “We’re about to see a real jump up in the demand for our fuel here in B.C. as those trucks start driving around,” Russell said.

The liquifier will play an important role to meet this forecasted need by significantly ramping up HTEC’s hydrogen production.

At the site it acquired, a sodium chlorate factory operated by ERCO Worldwide will capture the vented gases. Contaminants such as water vapour and oxygen will be removed, leaving behind the hydrogen. The hydrogen gas will be put through a liquifier to become a more easily transportable form that can be loaded onto tanker trucks.

ERCO uses electric equipment to make sodium chlorate, which means it is producing minimal greenhouse gas emissions because B.C.’s grid is mostly powered by renewable, clean energy, Russell explained.

“I call it cleaner than green, and the same cost as blue,” she said of the hydrogen from the liquifier. "Green hydrogen" is made from renewable energy and "blue hydrogen" is derived from natural gas and subject to carbon capture.

The funding from the Canadian government’s Strategic Innovation Fund is crucial to fully financing the project, Russell said. HTEC is committing its own funds, and is seeking more private funding to reach the final investment decision.

If all goes well, the company expects the facility to begin operations in Q1 2028.

When the liquifier site is operating, the hydrogen will be sent to its facility in Burnaby that helps circulate the fuel across its network. Today, HTEC takes liquid hydrogen from another supplier, but the company has a blueprint to change that with H2 Gateway.

The H2 Gateway

At its Burnaby facility that vaporizes, compresses and moves one tonne of hydrogen per day for its charging network, a second phase is planned for completion in the fall, where an electrolyzer — which splits water to produce hydrogen using electricity — will generate one tonne of hydrogen per day.

The Burnaby facility and the North Vancouver liquifier asset are parts of the H2 Gateway, a portfolio of projects HTEC is developing in four regional hubs across B.C — Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Prince George and Okanagan. The plan will cover hydrogen production, up to 20 fuelling stations and a heavy-duty truck leasing program to stimulate demand for the vehicles.

On the production side, it will be made up of the liquifier and three electrolyzers in Burnaby, Vancouver Island and Prince George which are expected to produce a combined five to seven tonnes of hydrogen per day.

Once HTEC is better established on the hydrogen production side, Russell said the company could go beyond supplying itself. There are hydrogen fuel cell companies in B.C. (such as Ballard Power Systems Inc.) that will need a consistent hydrogen source, a role HTEC could fulfill, Russell said.

“We really want to be a key part of that ecosystem by having this fuel available for them to be able to deploy their products here in B.C.”

For its truck leasing program, HTEC plans to have nine of the heavy-duty vehicles on the road by the end of the year. The goal is to eventually have a fleet of 100 trucks.

Though the fundamentals for hydrogen as a transportation fuel are still present, she observed the sector is under a pall of uncertainty. Tariff threats from the U.S. are a major problem, for example, which is contributing to the difficulty in attracting investment. CBC News also reported hydrogen projects are being paused or cancelled in the province. But HTEC is staying “cautiously optimistic.”

“We believe in the long-term and we’re just being very careful in the short-term.”