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Home > Strategic Initiatives > Hydrogen Centre of Excellence
The Hydrogen Centre of Excellence accelerates technology and innovation across the hydrogen value chain, closing innovation and support gaps and strengthening Alberta’s hydrogen economy.
Clean Technology, Energy, Environment
The centre positions Alberta as a world leader in the innovative production, deployment and use of hydrogen across our economy, acting as a connecting forum to bring together researchers, academics, innovators, industry, and various levels of government to help Alberta achieve its hydrogen ambitions.
The first round of funding has been made available under the Hydrogen Centre of Excellence. For more information, see Advancing Hydrogen — Competition One. A second round of funding will be announced in the summer or fall of 2023.
In addition, the Hydrogen Centre of Excellence supports studies, opportunity analyses, the development of codes and standards and fosters the development of partnerships to advance the integration of hydrogen into the energy system. Funding is available to enable these “Service Capacities” through the Hydrogen Centre of Excellence. See Services Capacity.
The Hydrogen Centre of Excellence is led by Alberta Innovates, with the applied research and engineering expertise of its two subsidiaries, InnoTech Alberta and C-FER Technologies. The centre is a funding program, testing and service facility, and forum for facilitating partnerships to de-risk hydrogen technology development. Its objectives are to:
The centre will target five leading markets for hydrogen energy that have significant economic opportunity for Alberta:
Image Source: Alberta Hydrogen Roadmap
The centre adds value to the economy by investing in clean technology research and innovation that focuses on technologies that improve environmental sustainability and economic diversification. Interest in hydrogen is gaining momentum globally, offering opportunities to achieve economic and environmental objectives in Alberta and beyond.
Hydrogen is an important priority for Alberta in the provincial Economic Recovery Plan and the Natural Gas Vision and Strategy, as well as the federal Hydrogen Strategy. Alberta’s Hydrogen Roadmap lays out a path to a hydrogen economy and establishes a policy framework and actions to achieve Alberta’s ambitions in the emerging hydrogen economy.
Within Alberta’s Hydrogen Roadmap, the Hydrogen Centre of Excellence is an important delivery mechanism for many of its policy pillars to achieve a thriving hydrogen economy in Alberta, including:
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and provides energy without releasing carbon dioxide (CO2), which means it has the potential to be a major carrier of clean energy. It can be derived from the separation of natural gas or through electrolysis, and when burned for energy or used in a fuel cell it only emits water.
As the largest hydrogen producer in Canada, Alberta has the resources, infrastructure, expertise, and technology needed to quickly become a global supplier of low-cost clean hydrogen.