Company News

The Government of Canada has announced the creation of the Hydrogen Strategy Implementation Strategic Steering Committee,

Air Liquide SA, the world’s second-largest maker of industrial gases, plans to invest about 8 billion euros (USD $9.5 billion) in low-carbon hydrogen by 2035 as part of a plan to more than triple sales of the fuel to help clients curb emissions.While producing clean hydrogen with electrolyzers is currently costlier than using fossil fuels, France and other European nations have pledged billions in subsidies over the next decade to reduce production costs in line with policies for the continent to become carbon-neutral by 2050.Proponents of green hydrogen say the move will be key to decarbonizing industrial processes, such as refining and steelmaking, and is more suitable than using batteries to power heavy trucks, trains, boats and even airplanes.

Align Capital Partners’ (“ACP”) environmental testing and compliance platform Alliance Technical Group, LLC has acquired the air testing and monitoring assets of O’Brien & Gere, a division of Ramboll (“Ramboll Air Testing and Monitoring”).

Newpoint Gas, LLC, and Brooks Energy Company have announced Escalante H2 Power, a technology collaboration that converts retired coal-fired power plants (CFPP) to use blue/green hydrogen as fuel with three precedent-setting results.

Ecopetrol S.A. reports that it has published its plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, in line with its commitment to mitigate climate change and further the energy transition and its "TESG" agenda.

Linde Engineering has won the official bid for the design and construction of an integrated hydrogen fueling station and electrolysis plant for AGR in Herten, Germany.The project comprising hydrogen production and high-performance fueling technology is receiving funding of up to €6.2 million from the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in the framework of the National Innovation Program Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP).

Suncor Energy Inc. says it is investing in carbon capture technology company Svante Inc. as it looks for ways to reduce or offset greenhouse gas emissions from its extensive oil and gas operations.Suncor CEO Mark Little says its investment in Vancouver-based Svante will support the commercialization of a technology that could cut the cost of carbon capture, adding it will also be a collaborative partner.Calgary-based Suncor has targeted an emissions intensity reduction from its petroleum production of 30% by 2030 compared with 2014.Svante says Suncor is taking part in a funding round generating USD $25 million, bringing the total under its Series D financing to USD $100 million.It says it has attracted more than US$175 million in funding since it was founded in 2007 to develop its solid sorbent technology, which is to be used to capture carbon dioxide from flue gas, concentrate it, then release it for safe storage or industrial use, at half the capital cost of traditional engineered solutions.Svante CEO Claude Letourneau says in a news release the company's potential projects would capture CO2 from natural gas industrial boilers, cement and lime operations and industrial hydrogen facilities, spurred by tax credits and carbon pricing in Canada and the U.S.“Carbon capture is a strategic technology area for Suncor to reduce GHG emissions in our base business and produce blue hydrogen as an energy product,'' said Little.“An investment in Svante is expected to support the acceleration of commercial scale deployment of a technology that has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost associated with carbon capture.''Hydrogen is considered to be blue if the GHG emissions from fossil fuels used in its creation are offset by emission reductions, while green hydrogen is made with renewable energy sources.Svante says it also counts oilsands producer Cenovus Energy Inc.

NextDecade Corporation (NextDecade or the Company) announced the formation of NEXT Carbon Solutions, LLC (NEXT Carbon Solutions), a wholly owned subsidiary of NextDecade that is expected to:Develop one of the largest carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in North America at NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG project;Advance proprietary processes to lower the cost of utilizing CCS technology;Help other energy companies to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the production, transportation, and use of natural gas; andGenerate high-quality, verifiable carbon offsets to support companies in their efforts to achieve net-zero emissions.NEXT Carbon Solutions’ CCS project is expected to reduce permitted CO2 emissions at Rio Grande LNG by more than 90% without major design changes to the Rio Grande LNG project.

Kinder Morgan, Inc. announced that it has formed a new Energy Transition Ventures group within Kinder Morgan to identify, analyze and pursue commercial opportunities emerging from the low-carbon energy transition.

The following commentary by Brent Jacobs, P.Eng. is a statement on behalf of the International CCS Knowledge Centre. It takes courage to be first.