Amemorandum of understanding will be signed Monday between Canada and Germany to establish a trade program to sell hydrogen produced in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Nova Scotia.
"This is historic," Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson told CBC News on Sunday. "It is a huge step forward and it is something that I think people in Newfoundland and Labrador can be enormously optimistic about in terms of the creation of jobs and prosperity."
According to a press release from Natural Resources Canada, the MOU accelerates the hydrogen trade between Germany and Canada, with exports beginning as early as next year.
Canada has only seen one project — Everwind's Point Tupper plant in Nova Scotia — pass environmental assessment so far, although that project still has to clear assessments for the wind farms that will power it.
The next closest is the World Energy GH2's proposed wind-to-hydrogen project on the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland, which is still awaiting approval under the province's environmental assessment process.
Wilkinson said that process will be respected, despite the MOU. He said these types of deals need to be struck ahead of time so that companies can safely invest in new industries, such as the hydrogen trade. BCRNW