Selkirk attracts green industries

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This article was published 22/01/2022 (1504 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The city of Selkirk is building up an enviable portfolio of potential green industry developments with the announcement this week of an agreement with a Quebec company to build a small hydrogen fuel production facility.

It comes just over one month after news that Canadian Premier Sands Inc. is working towards investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Selkirk to build North America’s first solar glass manufacturing facility.

The proponents of the two enterprises – both of them small companies – must first raise the capital needed to do the projects, but both have a solid grasp of their respective markets and would be addressing an increasing demand, made more acute as the climate change crisis becomes more real with each passing day.

Charbone Corp., out of Brossard, Que. signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of Selkirk that could potentially see them make use of a de-commissioned waste-water treatment plant site in Selkirk for its hydrogen facility.

Charbone is in the middle of a transaction with a couple of other companies that will see it listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. The company is also days away from starting construction of a similar plant to the one being proposed in Selkirk in Sorel-Tracy, Que., about half way between Montreal and Trois-Rivieres.

Charbone would produce so-called “green” hydrogen using renewable hydroelectricity and water as the main inputs.

The market for hydrogen fuel is expected to continue to grow as hydrogen fuel cell technology becomes more commercially viable.

Dave Gagnon, CEO of Charbone Corp., said the initial market Charbone would address would be industrial clients who currently use hydrogen fuel that is produced through the gasification of coal or that uses natural gas as the feedstock, both of which obviously leave a much greater carbon footprint.

Gagnon said the first phase would require about $7 million investment, and could be mobilized quite quickly.

Tim Feduniw, Selkirk’s director of sustainable economic development, said both projects align with the city’s vision for the future as Manitoba’s green energy hub.

“We are building a sustainability policy platform in Selkirk,” he said. “We also have a climate change adaptation strategy that is embedded in all the decision making process and in the budget.”

Charbone’s plans start out small but can grow as demand increases.

As for Canadian Premier Sands (CPS), its solar glass plan is large to being with. No specific location has been determined but it would require many acres.

CPS has a sand quarry near Seymourville, Man, that was originally intended to mine the sand there to sell to the oil fracing industry. But as the quarry was in development the fracing industry has become less attractive for several reasons and CPS has pivoted to a manufacturing model that would require only 10 per cent of the volume of quarried sand than if it were selling to the fracing industry.

There has been community opposition to the development of the sand quarry but the new plan would mean far fewer truck traffic, one of the major concerns by those opposed to the project.

Glenn Leroux, CEO of Calgary-based CPS said the sand in Seymourville is particularly suitable to produce the glass panels used in solar panels.

Currently all the solar glass used in much of the world is manufactured in Asia, mostly in China. Leroux said North American solar panel companies are very enthusiastic about the possibility of North American production.

He said he hopes to have financing lined up by the third quarter this year. The plant would take close to two years to construct and it would be able to be in commercial production by 2025.

Leroux said agents are being lined up to raise the capital required and discussions are also underway with potential strategic partners including solar panel manufactures who are keen to secure a supply of glass that does not require trans-Pacific shipping.

“In the past, some might have thought this was aspirational,” Leroux said. “It is not aspirational anymore.”

Feduniw said provincial authorities from the departments of environment and infrastructure are engaged in both projects.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca