Hydra Energy will serve more than 80 heavy-duty diesel trucks operating in the Prince George region with a new green hydrogen plant that it’s building.
Hydra Energy’s business model is Hydrogen-as-a-service, in which it covers the cost of engine modifications on heavy duty diesel engine trucks in exchange for long-term fuel purchasing agreements – the fuel being hydrogen.
The engine modifications allows blends of hydrogen to be burned in diesel engines, along with diesel, to reduce the truck’s CO2 emissions. (No greenhouse gas emissions are produced when hydrogen is made through electrolysis, and none produced when hydrogen is burned.)
Hydra Energy is building two five-megawatts electrolysers in Prince George, at a cost of $62 million, that will produce hydrogen from water and electricity through electrolysis. It expects the new electrolysers to be producing hydrogen next year.
Hydra had hoped to sign up 65 trucks, but ended up getting more than 80, when it inked agreements with eight commercial fleet operators in the Prince George region.
“Upon signing our first commercial fleet customer in Prince George and breaking ground on our local refuelling station last year, we had an initial goal to secure 65 heavy-duty trucks to leverage the new station once operational next year," said Hydra Energy CEO Jessica Verhagen.
“Securing immediate offtakers for our station’s low-carbon hydrogen is another critical piece in our Prince George HaaS blueprint illustrating to potential investors and licensees how hydrogen supply and demand can profitably come together.
One of the new customers is Excel Transportation, which serves the forestry sector with trucks that haul logs and wood chips.
“Once we heard about the progress Hydra has been making on their hydrogen refuelling station right in our own back yard, the fact their hydrogen wouldn’t cost us more than diesel and that it would cost nothing to retrofit our trucks to run cleaner and more efficiently, we couldn’t pass on the opportunity,” said Annie Horning, CEO of Excel Transportation.
"Hydra allows us to make a positive difference sooner than later while eliminating our range anxiety concerns that could impact our service reliability."
Fleet operators that have signed up for Hydra's services include Arrow Transportation, Edgewater Holdings, Wilson Bros. Enterprises, Burke Purdon Enterprises, Godsoe Contracting, Keis Trucking, and Peace Valley Industries.
