John Risley calls time of death on green hydrogen plans. But he's still set on windmills

A massive wind-to-hydrogen project in western Newfoundland will not be going ahead, but one of its main proponents has a new multi-billion-dollar proposal involving windmills in the region.

John Risley wants to build a new $16-billion subsea and overland transmission network connecting the Atlantic provinces to Quebec.

Two lines would feed wind power — from onshore farms in Newfoundland and offshore projects in Nova Scotia — all the way to Hydro-Québec, where it could be exported to markets in the northeastern United States.

“We're spending millions of dollars as we speak," Risley told Radio-Canada on Monday.

"There’s a lot of money going into making this project real. I can’t tell you that it is real. But I can tell you that we’re committed to spend the money to try to make it real.”

The venture is a 50-50 partnership between Risley's Clean Grid Atlantic and Pattern Energy, a firm acquired by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in 2020.

This new proposal spells the end of plans by Risley's World Energy GH2 to build a world-leading green hydrogen and ammonia plant in Stephenville, but reimagines how the wind turbines that fed into the proposed plant could be used.

Risley sees the yet-to-be-constructed windfarms as a crucial part of the broader plan to export massive amounts of energy to Quebec and beyond.

“The grid is the highway and the wind project on the west coast of Newfoundland is one of the cars that would travel on the highway," Risley said.

Risley envisions the first phase of the project including five gigawatts of electricity from onshore wind in Newfoundland, combined with five gigawatts from offshore wind farms in Nova Scotia.

For context, the 150-turbine wind farm that World Energy GH2 proposed on the Port au Port Peninsula could produce up to one gigawatt of electricity. Risley believes the other proponents behind green hydrogen projects in Newfoundland could feed into the interconnected system he wants to build.

He estimates Clean Grid Atlantic and Pattern Energy will spend more than $300 million on the proposal before reaching a final investment decision, which he said will occur in 12 to 18 months.

Risley believes there is a business model there that would make investment attractive.

“Once the business case is proven, finding the capital won’t be a problem.”

Green hydrogen hype is dead

Risley's plans have morphed significantly since the massive World Energy GH2 project first burst into the spotlight.

The billionaire businessman was on hand when then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz came to Stephenville in 2022 to sign a memorandum of understanding with Canadian officials for a green hydrogen corridor across the Atlantic.

The goal was to displace Russian oil and gas in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. The lofty objective never came to fruition, as the cost to produce clean hydrogen remains too high for consumers to bear, especially in comparison to the cost to produce hydrogen from other sources like natural gas.

Risley acknowledges his clean hydrogen plans are not feasible under current conditions, but he's not ruling out the fuel source forever.

“Where are our future energy prices going to go? My crystal ball is no better than anyone else’s, but I think it would be wrong to say that hydrogen is never going to be part of the equation. I think hydrogen will be part of the equation one day, we just don’t know when.”

Risley believes his current proposal is more feasible, given there is already a potential buyer interested in the end product — something he never had for hydrogen.

In a statement to Radio-Canada, Hydro-Québec confirmed it is currently in discussions with a number of stakeholders in the Atlantic provinces, including Clean Grid Atlantic.

Risley said there are about 60 people working on the proposal, including some who participate in weekly discussions with the Major Projects Office created by Ottawa to accelerate major infrastructure projects.

World Energy GH2 had said it would create hundreds of long-term, well paid jobs at its hydrogen and ammonia plant in Stephenville. While that promise has evaporated, Risley said thousands of construction and maintenance jobs would be created by the new transmission lines and any accompanying wind farm projects.

"This will more than replace all of the jobs in the offshore," he said.

While Risley recognized that many of the previous commitments he made to residents of western Newfoundland haven't panned out.

"That skepticism is fair enough," Risley said, while adding that he is fully committed to making the transmission project a reality. "This is a very meaningful project. It’s gonna be transformative for the Newfoundland economy."

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