Benefits
What BC gets when a closed gas power plant becomes a clean hydrogen site.
Indigenous equity
Four Nations are offered an ownership stake from the start, backed by the federal $10B Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program.
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From the start, PDEC is set up to offer Indigenous Nations an ownership share, hiring targets, contracts and a share of revenue. This follows TRC Call to Action #92, UNDRIP and BC's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). Talks with all four Nations are underway.
Tsleil-Waututh Nation
Burrard Thermal is within the Nation's traditional territory. The Nation already supplies renewable fuel at Vanterm with GCT through SPAL Corp. That deal is a working model for co-owning an energy business.
Squamish Nation
UBC CERC runs clean energy research with the Nation on Squamish territory. Nation leaders have spoken publicly in support of clean energy. The Squamish Clean Technology Association is active in the region.
Haisla Nation
HaiSea Marine, a joint venture with Seaspan, runs the world's first electric harbour tugs plus LNG escort tugs. It shows a Nation co-owning a low-carbon tug fleet. PDEC offers the same kind of co-ownership for hydrogen tugs, which its lower fuel price makes affordable.
Musqueam (xʷməθkwəyəm)
UBC SHED and CERC are on Musqueam territory. The Waterfront hub sits on territory shared by the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
If Nations become co-owners, the project is more likely to survive changes in government. It also becomes a stronger candidate for the Major Projects Office. And it gains wide community support, which a project with one champion lacks.
Environment
Replacing diesel in ships, trucks and trains cuts CO2 and the soot and smog-forming gases that hit harbour neighbourhoods hardest.
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Replacing diesel in twenty-six customer uses cleans the air and cuts carbon in one of Canada's busiest city harbours. Both can be measured.
Counted from production through use (well-to-wheel). The same as taking 19,351 cars off the road for good.
In ferries, tugs, buses, trains, trucks, port equipment and seaplanes.
No more ships burning diesel at the Waterfront hub. People in Coal Harbour, Gastown and the DTES breathe cleaner air.
NOx forms ground-level ozone. Less of it means less lung illness for people living near the harbour.
Jobs
Construction jobs first, then long-term operating jobs that suit people coming from gas plants, mills and the port.
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PDEC creates skilled jobs at Burrard Thermal and at the Waterfront hub. BC colleges and universities train the workers.
Permanent operations
55+ jobs once fully builtSalaries of $70K-$150K+. Roles include electrolyzer technicians, pyrolysis operators, fuelling staff, marine fuelling (bunkering) operators, maintenance engineers, safety officers and plant managers.
Construction phase
1,105+ jobs during Phase 1Electrical, mechanical, piping, civil and instrumentation trades. They install the electrolyzer, compressors, storage, fuelling equipment and the marine fuelling arm, and convert vessels.
Training pipeline
50+ graduates trained via SFU FCReLBCIT offers hydrogen safety certification. Marine and trades courses are adapted for handling hydrogen. UBC SHED gives hands-on time with electrolyzers and refuelling. Ballard and SFU have a 10-year partnership.
Phase 3 jobs: Supplying green steel in the Elk Valley adds production and shipping jobs at Burrard Thermal. It also helps keep 5,400 Elk Valley met coal workers employed as they move to making green HBI. This fits the federal Sustainable Jobs Act (June 2024).
Energy security and trade
Hydrogen made in BC from BC power and gas replaces imported diesel, and can follow the Trans Mountain route to buyers in Asia.
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The Trans Mountain Expansion gave Canadian crude its first large Pacific tanker route. Within two years, China became the largest buyer of those cargoes. A Pacific export route changed who Canada sells to. PDEC does the same for hydrogen. It creates a clean fuel Canada can export to allies in Asia and Europe who want stable suppliers in democracies.
Asia-Pacific export
Liquid hydrogen (LH2) or ammonia shipped from VFPA deep-water berths to Japan, South Korea and Germany. All three have published national plans to import hydrogen.
Democratic-origin fuel
Made with power from BC Hydro's 98% clean grid. Its carbon intensity can be checked under the BC Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and Canada's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
Reduced U.S. dependence
New trade routes to Pacific Rim partners make Canada less exposed to changes in U.S. trade policy.
Federal alignment
Fits the $5B Trade Diversification Corridor Fund, the Budget 2025 Super-Deduction and the Major Projects Office fast track.
Defence and sovereign fuel
The plant that fuels buses and ships can also supply military bases such as CFB Esquimalt. DND is the federal government's largest emitter (61% of federal GHGs) and is required to cut its emissions. Serving both civilian and military users gives investors a Canadian-controlled fuel story, with no separate military purchase needed.
Phase 3: Green steel corridor
In Phase 3 (2033+), green hydrogen goes by CP Rail to the Elk Valley to make HBI, a form of iron for steelmaking. The base case of 250,000 t/yr of HBI would bring combined EBITDA to $46.1M (Phase 1 + Phase 3). It is a just transition for 5,400 met coal workers. Nippon Steel (20%) and POSCO (3%) own shares in Elk Valley Resources, so Asian steelmakers already have a stake in the valley.
Natural gas
Heating BC natural gas without air splits it into hydrogen and solid carbon without burning it, which gives the gas industry a clean product to sell.
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Methane pyrolysis splits BC natural gas into hydrogen and solid carbon, with no CO2 emissions. That gives Montney gas producers a new, higher-value market. No new pipeline is needed.
Montney gas
~$2/GJ ~$0.40 per kg H2Through the existing FortisBC pipeline. About $0.40 of gas in, $9.50 of product out per kg.
Hydrogen
$6.50/kg blended sale priceSold to 26 customer uses. About 13% below the diesel it replaces and 60% below today's $16.50/kg retail.
Solid carbon
$1,000/t contract targetHigh-grade carbon black, used in tires, battery electrodes and industry. Spot was about CAD $2,585/t in July 2026.
Gas industry jobs stay and existing pipes get reused, with no CO2 emitted. FortisBC is studying blending 15% hydrogen into its gas network with DNV and Enbridge. That would be one more buyer.
Port Moody
Putting the idle Burrard site back to work brings industrial tax revenue and jobs back to Port Moody.
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Burrard Thermal has sat idle since it stopped generating power in 2016. BC Hydro's decommissioning schedule starts in fall 2028. Putting the 193-acre site back to industrial use brings business back to Port Moody and ends the cost of maintaining an empty plant.
Tax revenue
$1.6M+ industrial property tax per yearPaid to the City of Port Moody. The city has lost most of this revenue since the plant stopped generating in 2016, and BC Hydro has moved most of the site to a lower tax class.
Site reuse
193 acres of closed plant put back to useCrown land zoned industrial, with no homes next to it, permitted for heavy energy use. Building on an empty site instead would cost more and take longer.
District energy
Waste heat from electrolysisPiped into Port Moody's district energy systems to heat buildings.
Why not housing? Burrard Thermal is a 1960s industrial site that may be contaminated. It would need cleanup before anyone could live there. It is zoned industrial, with no homes next to it. Its high-voltage grid connection, gas pipeline, deep-water port and rail line are worth tens of millions of dollars, and housing would mean tearing them out. Port Moody council wants the site kept for industry.
What PDEC needs next
Four contracts lock in the economics before anything is built. If you could sign one of them, or help find who will, a short call is the next step.
Customer contracts
Fleet, marine, port and industrial hydrogen buyers. They commit to buy a set volume at $6.50/kg, and the price never drops below $5.20/kg.
Off-peak power
BC Hydro. A supply agreement at about 5.5 cents a kilowatt-hour, with the plant running when power is cheapest.
Carbon buyer
Makers of steel, batteries, tires and building materials. They buy the solid carbon left when the plant splits natural gas, at $1,000 a tonne or better.
Anchor volumes
Transit, ferry and port operators. Committed volumes that keep the plant running at 85% of capacity.