The “Ministère de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques” of Quebec has granted CHARBONE HYDROGEN the certificate of environmental authorisation to manufacture up to 5.5 MW of green hydrogen at the Sorel-Tracy CHARBONE Hydrogen facility for phases 1, 2, and 3. Additionally, the town of Sorel-Tracy has already granted the project a preliminary authorization for on-site civil works construction.
Additionally, CHARBONE announces that the CHARBONE Management team staged “a first shovel” event to begin on-site civil work for phase 1 of the Sorel-Tracy plant. The Sorel-Tracy facility is situated on a roughly 40,000 square meter land parcel that CHARBONE has leased from the town of Sorel-Tracy under a 25-year long-term lease agreement along Québec Highway 30, also known as the “Autoroute de l’acier,” fifty minutes east of Montreal on the south bank of the St-Lawrence River. Due to the various steel factories and processing facilities that are present along the route from Varennes to Bécancour, the road was given the nickname “Steel Highway” (QC).
According to a final agreement that was declared on May 5, 2022, the dihydrogen created in the Sorel-Tracy facility will be marketed and distributed by CHARBONE exclusive partner, Superior Propane, a division of Superior Plus. For industrial customers as well as a select few future heavy mobility users, CHARBONE will provide Superior Propane with high-purity grade 5.0 green hydrogen in a variety of configurations, including individual cylinders, bundle-packs, and bulk.
In addition, CHARBONE is continuing its efforts to get the B-Corp certification, which should be attained by Q1-2023, as well as the “ECO-responsible certification” with the Ecoresponsible Program, which it anticipates receiving during Q3 or Q4-2022. Under this well-known sustainable initiative, CHARBONE would be among the first producers of green hydrogen to receive such certification in Canada.
“What an exciting moment for the CHARBONE team and our shareholders to see the start of the construction of this first, 100% green hydrogen facility in Quebec and most likely in Canada,” said Dave Gagnon, CEO, and Chairman of CHARBONE. “It is fully dedicated to replacing the grey industrial hydrogen actually used in the process gas market.” I’m really pleased of our team for all of their efforts over the past 30 months to move this project forward and begin construction.
For the past 30 months, we have devoted all of our energy, emotions, and souls to the CHARBONE initiatives. Daniel Charette, a founder member and COO of CHARBONE, remarked on the extraordinary occasion that occurred yesterday when the environmental approval and the first shovel were raised. Many thanks to the CHARBONE team, the community of Sorel-Tracy, the engineering partners that supported the project, and all other participants in this fantastic trip.