EverWind starts $1bn renewables push for massive Canadian green fuels production
The Halifax-based start-up will build three wind farms with RES in the Atlantic province in first phase of an eventual 2GW of developments
EverWind Fuels has purchased three wind farm projects that the start-up will develop and build with UK-based renewables firm RES with the intention of using them to help power the first phase of a future green hydrogen and ammonia production facility in the Atlantic Canada province of Nova Scotia.
The three projects with a cumulative 530MW nameplate capacity are Windy Ridge, Bear Lake, and Kmtnuk, with the latter two to be developed by EverWind in partnership with the Membertou First Nation.
Electricity from the wind farms will be delivered via the provincial grid to EverWind’s production facility at Point Tupper on the Cape Breton side of the Canso Strait, according to the company, which is based in Halifax.
“The power generated at these three new developments will also ensure EverWind’s green hydrogen and ammonia will meet the strictest international standards for green fuels,” said CEO Trent Vichie, including European renewable fuels of non-biological origin criteria.
“It is a win for our project, a win for the province, and ultimately, a win for the planet,” he claimed.
EverWind is also acquiring and leasing land adjacent to the planned facility to locate up to 300MW of nameplate solar PV generation capacity to support production and further enhance grid flexibility benefits.
With the $1bn in wind and solar development investments, the company expects to generate 2.5 million MWh of electricity/year to produce green hydrogen which then will be converted into more than 200,000 metric tons of green ammonia annually starting in 2025.
EverWind said production will vary given the intermittent nature of the wind and solar farms. In the first phase, the Point Tupper plant will utilise proton exchange membrane electrolysers, which the company claims can rapidly vary their production to respond to fluctuating renewable energy inputs.
Black & Veatch has a turnkey contract to build the Point Tupper complex and is in the final stages of front-end engineering and design, according to Ali Assaf, a vice president and managing director.
Vichie said phase two of Point Tupper will boost green ammonia production to one million metric tonnes a year. EverWind has signed a memorandum of understanding to lease Crown land for an additional 2GW of wind project developments that would power the five-fold green ammonia production increase.