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U-Battery provides feedback on Ontario’s Low Carbon Hydrogen Strategy discussion paper

05 February 2021

Ontario is well-positioned to establish and develop a low carbon hydrogen economy, particularly given the province’s low-carbon electricity supply that relies on a natural gas distribution system as well as its globally renowned nuclear energy facilities that power a significant portion of the grid.

U-Battery strongly believes that the following considerations will be key in developing Ontario’s Hydrogen Strategy:  

• Leveraging the intangibles of low carbon nuclear for hydrogen production: Nuclear energy operations can be leveraged to produce hydrogen at a low carbon capacity. There is an undoubted synergy between the two, particularly as part of Canada’s carbon mitigation strategy and energy transformation efforts.
• Fortifying a globally renowned talent pool: Creating a pipeline of attractive, inclusive, diverse, global talent through Canadian universities and organizations, giving Canada a competitive advantage in the global race to innovation and research.
• Establishing enabling policies and funding: The success of Ontario’s hydrogen strategy will be reliant on a willingness within different levels of government to collaborate with each other while strategically supplementing the efforts of the private sector around cost and risk sharing.
• Enabling regional economic development: Like SMRs, hydrogen would turn remote communities away from fossil fuel generation toward a low carbon option for heavy-industry operations, transport, and community infrastructure.
• These efforts would not only strengthen the hydrogen sector, but also ensure its prosperity and in turn Ontario’s long-term economic growth. As Ontario looks for industries and sectors that can accelerate its return to growth and full employment, coupling nuclear energy development and hydrogen production will provide a reliable source of innovation, employment and sustainable growth, primed to alleviate Ontarians from the economic impact of COVID-19.

U-Battery would like to thank the Ontario government for the opportunity to submit its comments on the province’s Low Carbon Hydrogen Strategy discussion paper.

Read the submission in full here