Canada has agreed to help Germany with its energy crisis, although few details on exactly how the two countries will work together were given during a ceremony in Stephenville, NL, on Tuesday. Instead, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signed a “joint statement of intent” calling on the two countries to invest in hydrogen, create a “Canada-Germany transatlantic supply corridor” and start exporting hydrogen by 2025. “We need to look to resources like hydrogen that can and will be clean and renewable. We can be the reliable supplier of clean energy that a zero-needs world needs,” Trudeau said.
“The need for clean energy is almost limitless, and that’s where Canada, specifically Atlantic Canada, is stepping up. With our renewables, we have a huge advantage.” Scholz, accompanied by a group of leaders from Germany’s biggest companies, including Bayer and Volkswagen, is touring Canada this week to find energy alternatives to Russian natural gas. The deal was signed in a city where a company plans to build a large plant to convert wind energy into hydrogen and export ammonia to Germany. But the World Energy GH2 project – which will include 164 wind turbines along the nearby Port au Port peninsula – has yet to undergo environmental approval and residents were only told about it at meetings starting in June. Under the deal, Canada will export wind-produced hydrogen to Germany as the country looks to move away from Russian imports. While the war in Ukraine has led to an immediate crisis, Germany is also looking for long-term sustainable solutions. “Our vision for the future and our shared goals are clear. Canadians and Germans and all our friends around the world look forward to good jobs, a strong economy and clean air,” Trudeau said. “We cannot as a world continue to rely on authoritarian countries that will weaponize energy policy like Russia, that are not concerned with environmental outcomes, labor rights or even human rights.” Canada hopes to export Canadian-produced hydrogen within three years. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Atlantic Canada presents a huge opportunity for Germany’s search for a new green energy source. (CTV/CBC) Scholz said the German coast can’t keep up with the same wind conditions found in Newfoundland and Labrador, making the province an ideal location for hydrogen production. He said hydrogen would play an important role in Germany’s future energy supply, especially in hard-to-decarbonize industries such as shipping and aviation. “Germany expects a need of 90 to 110 terawatt hours of hydrogen in 2030,” Scholz said. “We believe that Atlantic Canada presents a tremendous opportunity for us and for Canada to contribute to a green energy transition. Canada is a close and like-minded partner in the energy transition.”

Wind projects proposed for NL

The Port au Port project has already gone through the red tape in Newfoundland and Labrador. Located on Newfoundland’s west coast — about 15 kilometers west of Stephenville — the peninsula is the proposed site for a wind farm operation that would make Stephenville home to a plant that would convert hydrogen produced by windmills into ammonia. World Energy GH2, the company behind the proposal, expects the Port au Port operation to be producing hydrogen by mid-2024. The project is going through an environmental impact statement process that the company, according to the Newfoundland government and of Labrador, has three years to complete. The business will be the first of its kind in the province. However, since the announcement of this project, some local residents and environmental groups have raised concerns. On Tuesday dozens lined the road near the Stephenville Airport starting at 10am. NT in protest of the Canada-Germany declaration, shouting and waving signs with slogans such as “Newfoundland is not for sale”. Marilyn Rowe of the Environmental Transparency Commission, set up in response to the Port au Port wind farm and hydrogen proposal, said the peninsula’s residents were “guinea pigs”. “We don’t want to have this in our backyards, which is why we’re here protesting today because this deal is moving at lightning speed,” Rowe said as he waited for the officials’ planes to land. A second project was proposed by Fortescue Future Industries, a subsidiary of Australia-based Fortescue Metals Group. FFI signed a memorandum of understanding with the Miawpukek First Nation on Monday for a feasibility study of a project that would produce green fuel on Newfoundland’s southwest coast using seawater and wind turbines. Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador