44 INVEST in BC 2 0 2 4
CARIBOO
▷
100 Mile House
▷
Barkerville
▷
Mackenzie
▷
McBride
▷
Prince George
▷
Quesnel
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Valemount
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Wells
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Williams Lake
SHARE OF B.C.
POPULATION 4%
L
ocated in the geographic centre of
British Columbia, the Cariboo has
been the locus of several key phases
of the province's economic history: the fur
trade, the Cariboo gold rush, the coming
of railroads and highways, the rise of the
forest and hydro-electric industries. Today,
it's making a strong case to lead the way in
the energy transition.
Various partners are working towards
making the regional capital of Prince
George a hydrogen hub. Already, Hydra
Energy is building what it calls the world's
largest hydrogen refuelling station and
green production facility in the city, part
of a "hydrogen corridor" stretching from
Edmonton to the Pacific Coast for low-
emission truck transportation.
The McLeod Lake Indian Band,
meanwhile, entered into a partnership
last year aiming to build what could be
Canada's largest hydrogen project on
the Kerry Lake East reserve about 80
kilometres north of Prince George. The
$5-billion Tse'khene Energy Transition
Hub would produce both "green" and
"blue" hydrogen from renewable sources
as well as from natural gas. Emissions from
the project would be stored underground.
More recently, Australian green
energy and metals company Fortescue
has proposed building a $2-billion,
1,000-megawatt green hydrogen and
ammonia facility at the city's Willow Cale
Industrial Park. Fortescue founder and
executive chair Andrew Forrest cited
the abundance of emissions-free hydro
power, fresh water and transportation
links for locating the plant in the Cariboo.
Another partner in the project is the
Lheidli T'enneh First Nation, which signed
a memorandum of understanding with
Fortescue in 2021.
And there's more to the Cariboo's clean
energy push than hydrogen. In 2023,
Calgary-based Tidewater Renewables started
up the first stand-alone biodiesel refinery in
Canada in Prince George. The $430-million
plant has the capacity to produce 170
million litres of diesel fuel per year from
renewable feedstock including canola oil,
tallow, used cooking oil and tall oil.
Even remote parts of the Cariboo are
making strides with clean energy. The
Pioneer Spirit
From a hydrogen hub to mass timber prefab homes, the heart of B.C. is
on the lookout for the next economic wave
LEFT:
ISTOCK/AUDIOUNDWERBUNG;
TOP:
TOURISM
PRINCE
GEORGE/
DARRIN
RIGO;
OPPOSITE
PAGE
RIGHT:
HYDRA
ENERGY
TOMORROW'S FUEL: Various partners seek to turn Prince George into a hotbed of hydrogen
production and distribution (above)
Official Publication of the BC Economic Development Association in special partnership with BCBusiness.
