Alberta to fund $1,375,000 for hydrogen testing facility

EDMONTON— Hydrogen is recognized as a key component in transitioning to a lower carbon future. Key challenges include understanding the impact of hydrogen on existing infrastructure and equipment.

The Government of Alberta has announced a $1,375,000 investment delivered through Alberta Innovates’ TIER Economic Recovery Program to expand C-FER Technologies’ ability to conduct full-scale tests in hydrogen-rich environments. This funding will help advance commercial implementation of well and pipeline technologies for the hydrogen economy.

“C-FER will play a critical role in helping the global industry commercially adopt new technologies for hydrogen production, transportation and storage, while maintaining operational safety. Testing equipment at full-scale in a hydrogen-rich environment will provide industry with a better understanding of what may happen in a real-world application,” said Francisco Alhanati, Managing Director at C-FER, in a statement.

“The innovative activities that we will be conducting right here in Alberta will lead the way for developing new protocols for qualifying materials for use with hydrogen and hydrogen-natural gas blends for the global energy industry.”

Doug Schweitzer, Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation also said in a statement that clean hydrogen represents an enormous opportunity for the province to diversify the energy sector while leveraging its existing strengths, and the innovators are conducting research and developing the technologies that they need to turn this opportunity into reality. He added that Alberta is already the largest hydrogen producer in Canada, and it’s clear now more than ever that they have the resources and expertise needed to become a major global supplier of this emerging resource.

Combined with industry support, the funding of this project will complete the construction of an automated testing system designed to investigate the impact of hydrogen on pipelines. Traditionally, smalls-scale tests are completed to qualify hydrogen products, but they often fail to capture the full impact of hydrogen in operating environments. C-FER’s new facility enables demonstration tests that evaluate materials and products in simulated, real-world conditions at scale.

C-FER is developing testing programs with pipeline operators and pipe manufacturers from around the world to help develop new industry standards and new technologies specifically for hydrogen pipelines.

Completing the system construction and commissioning, and conducting demonstration tests are expected to be completed by mid-2022.