Alberta's Hydrogen Strategy – Economic Boon Or Blimp?

On October 6, 2020, the Government of Alberta released its Natural Gas Vision and Strategy (the Natural Gas Strategy or the Strategy), which, true to its name, outlines the strategy to channel Alberta's natural gas resources towards new economic development opportunities. The Strategy identifies five pillars of growth: petrochemicals, plastics recycling, intra-province industry demand, liquefied natural gas, and hydrogen. In this article, we focus on the final pillar—hydrogen—and briefly discuss the knowns, the unknowns, and the path ahead.

The global energy industry is in the early stages of a significant shift that will take place over the coming decades. This shift, acknowledged as one of the premises underlying the Natural Gas Strategy, is driven by the global community's desire to decarbonise our energy chain and mitigate the worst effects of climate change.