What British Columbia’s First Nation Hydrogen Projects Signal for Canada
For several years the hydrogen headlines have been dominated by cancellations, delays, and write downs. Giant export projects have stalled and investors have grown wary of promises measured in gigawatts. Against that backdrop, two modest projects in British Columbia offer a different and arguably more durable model. Rather than chasing export scale, they match local hydrogen supply to a specific, guaranteed customer, and they are led or co-owned by First Nations who intend to hold these assets for generations (MacLachlan, 2026).
The first is the Kamloops Clean Energy Centre at the Kruger Kamloops pulp mill. Developed by New York based Elemental Clean Fuels in partnership with Kruger and the Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc Nation, the roughly $21.7 million facility will install a 10 megawatt electrolyzer on the mill site. It is designed to produce up to 4 tonnes of green hydrogen and 32 tonnes of oxygen per day (MacLachlan, 2026). The hydrogen will replace natural gas in the mill’s lime kiln, one of the hardest pieces of equipment in pulp making to electrify, while the oxygen will be used to bleach pulp. Zachary Steele of Elemental Clean Fuels estimates the project will cut about 7,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year, comparable to taking 1,200 to 1,500 vehicles off the road (MacLachlan, 2026). Joshua Gottfriedsen of the Sc.wén̓wen Economic Development Corporation framed the partnership as part of the Nation’s duty to care for the land.
The second is the Brandywine Clean Hydrogen Project in the Sea to Sky corridor north of Squamish, coordinated primarily by the Líl̓wat Nation. Federal officials announced more than $1 million in support for the project in March 2026 (Pace, 2026). Project engineer Cora Moffat says the facility could produce up to 4 tonnes of hydrogen per day, enough to fuel 121 heavy trucks, displace roughly 5 million litres of diesel annually, and avoid nearly 16,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year (MacLachlan, 2026).
So what do these projects mean for the hydrogen economy? The first lesson concerns where green hydrogen actually wins. The Kamloops design captures value from both products of electrolysis. Most electrolyzer business cases vent oxygen as waste. A pulp mill already buys oxygen for bleaching, so every tonne the electrolyzer produces offsets a purchased input. At 32 tonnes of oxygen per day, that co product meaningfully improves project economics without any new market development. Industrial sites with simultaneous demand for heat, hydrogen, and oxygen, including pulp mills, wastewater plants, glassworks, and some chemical facilities, may be the most bankable early homes for electrolysis.
The second lesson concerns the size of the offtake. Projects that fail usually lack a firm buyer. Both British Columbia projects were designed around a known customer from the start, a lime kiln in one case and a regional truck fleet in the other. A 10 megawatt electrolyzer is small by global standards, but small plants paired with committed demand can reach final investment decision, operate, and generate real performance data. That operating record is exactly what lenders need before financing larger plants.
The third lesson concerns ownership and social license. Indigenous participation is not peripheral to these projects. It shapes their structure, their siting, and their long term horizon. First Nations equity can unlock access to land, accelerate community acceptance, and align a project with stewardship values outlasting commodity cycles. Where local opposition routinely adds years to timelines, community ownership becomes a competitive advantage rather than a compliance exercise.
The broader Canadian context strengthens the case. The Hydrogen Strategy for Canada positions hydrogen as a pillar of the country’s net zero by 2050 goal, with an emphasis on transportation and power (Natural Resources Canada, 2020). Ottawa’s Clean Hydrogen Investment Tax Credit covers between 15 and 40 percent of eligible project costs, with the highest rates reserved for the lowest carbon intensity hydrogen, though rates halve in 2034 before the credit expires (International Energy Agency, 2025). British Columbia reports roughly 50 hydrogen projects in its pipeline worth about $5 billion, while Natural Resources Canada counts at least 80 announced projects representing more than $100 billion in potential investment since 2020 (MacLachlan, 2026). Alberta, the country’s largest producer, has paired its long history of hydrogen production with a roadmap focused on industrial decarbonization (Government of Alberta, 2021).
Obstacles remain. Ibrahim Dincer of Ontario Tech University notes that green hydrogen still faces high costs and difficult challenges in infrastructure, storage, and transportation (MacLachlan, 2026). The Brandywine trucking model depends on vehicle availability, fuelling station reliability, and fleet operators willing to commit to a new fuel. The Kamloops project depends on affordable, clean electricity from BC Hydro as provincial power demand rises. And the gap between 80 announced projects and the handful operating today shows how much of the national pipeline remains aspirational.
Still, the significance of these two projects lies in their realism. Together they represent about 8 tonnes of daily hydrogen production, tiny relative to Canada’s ambitions. Yet each one solves a concrete problem for a defined user, captures more than one revenue stream, and rests on partnerships with communities committed to the long term. If the hydrogen economy is going to recover from its hype cycle, it will likely be built from projects like these, demand first, right sized, and locally owned, before it scales to the export terminals and continental corridors that once dominated the conversation.
References
Government of Alberta. (2021). Alberta hydrogen roadmap. https://www.alberta.ca/hydrogen-roadmap
International Energy Agency. (2025, June 24). Investment tax credit for clean hydrogen. https://www.iea.org/policies/17330-investment-tax-credit-for-clean-hydrogen
MacLachlan, D. (2026, March 19). Hydrogen shows new signs of life in BC with great potential across Canada. EnergyNow. https://energynow.ca/2026/03/hydrogen-shows-new-signs-of-life-in-bc/
Natural Resources Canada. (2020). Hydrogen strategy for Canada: Seizing the opportunities for hydrogen. Government of Canada. https://natural-resources.canada.ca/climate-change/canadas-green-future/the-hydrogen-strategy/23080
Pace, I. (2026, March 5). Indigenous-led Sea to Sky project granted $1.5 million for clean fuel innovation. Turtle Island News. https://theturtleislandnews.com/?p=102555
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