FAQ

23,627 kg a day, or 8,623,955 kg a year. It comes from three processes: electrolysis (11,127 kg/day), methane pyrolysis (7,500 kg/day), and biomass gasification with BECCS (5,000 kg/day). The average cost to make it, the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH), is $4.63/kg. The average carbon intensity (CI) is below zero.

Two sites in Metro Vancouver, linked by existing roads and rail lines. Hydrogen would be made at the Burrard Thermal Generating Station in Port Moody, BC. It is a closed BC Hydro power plant that already has a FortisBC gas pipeline, deep-water frontage and heavy rail. The economic model still budgets a new 230 kV substation ($28.5M) and a new dock, so any reuse of the old connections would be a saving on top of the plan.

The fuelling hub at Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver would serve transit, ships and port equipment at the centre of Metro Vancouver's transportation network. Production and customers are within 20 km of each other. That avoids the cost of moving hydrogen long distances, which has hurt other projects.

A corridor. PDEC plans two production sites that each pay their own way and work together as one network. Burrard Thermal in Port Moody is the main site. It serves Metro Vancouver customers through the fuelling hub at Waterfront Station. A second site at the former Domtar mill in Crofton is being considered to serve Vancouver Island customers, with a barge link to the mainland.

Each site has its own financial model and can be financed on its own. Investors can back one site or both. Together, the two sites back each other up on supply, reach more customers and share operating costs.

The Crofton mill site on Vancouver Island is being studied as a second place to make hydrogen. It adds to Burrard Thermal and does not compete with it. Vancouver Island customers (BC Ferries Route 6, Cowichan Valley Transit, Western Forest Products Chemainus, CFB Esquimalt and others) are easier to supply from a plant on the Island than from Metro Vancouver.

Crofton uses biomass-to-hydrogen with carbon capture as a third process, alongside electrolysis and methane pyrolysis. That brings its average carbon intensity below zero. Talks with Halalt First Nation, Cowichan Tribes and local groups are underway.

The Crofton page has the full proposal: the three processes, the approach to the community and First Nations, the site, the economics, the risks and the timeline.

Over 20 years, PDEC is worth $1.23B in today's dollars after paying for the plant (net present value, counting public benefits; $1.34B before capital costs). Each year it creates $136.4M in value: its own sales plus social benefits such as cleaner air and lower carbon. PDEC itself would earn $101.1M a year in revenue, with $30.4M EBITDA (30% margin). It pays back its share of the cost ($110.3M after federal tax credits and grants) in 3.6 years.

89,018 tonnes per year, the same as taking 19,351 cars off the road. It comes from replacing 33.2 million litres per year of diesel across the customers the plant serves.

Eleven sectors, with demand in kg/day: marine (12,750), industrial (7,000), transit (5,700), aviation (5,700), port equipment (3,840), mining (3,500), utilities (3,100), defence (2,000), rail (1,500), agriculture (1,500) and other (500). That is 47,090 kg/day from 26 possible customers (offtakers), about twice what the plant makes.

PDEC would sell hydrogen at a blended $6.50/kg ($5.75 bulk, $7.63 delivered). That is about 13% less than the diesel it replaces (about $7.52 for the same work) and about 60% below the $16.50/kg charged at BC pumps today. It costs PDEC $4.63/kg on average to make, which leaves a gross margin of $1.87/kg. Customers together would stop spending $53.1M a year on diesel.

Not always. Some diesel equipment can be converted instead of replaced. CPKC converted diesel-electric switcher locomotives to hydrogen fuel cells and batteries, keeping the frame and traction motors, and has run them in regular service in Calgary since November 2023. At the Port of Vancouver, DP World converted a diesel rubber-tired gantry crane to hydrogen-electric power; it entered a one-year field trial in 2025. Other equipment, such as new hydrogen tugs, ferries and fuel cell buses, is bought new. PDEC works with each customer on which route fits their fleet.

Phase 1 costs $368.4M, including a 25% contingency. That covers the 30 MW electrolyzer, the pyrolysis unit, the biomass unit with carbon capture, a new 230 kV substation and dock, the fuelling hub and the delivery equipment. After federal tax credits, grants and other offsets, PDEC's share is $110.3M. The model does not count on reusing Burrard's old connections, so any reuse would lower the cost. Phase 0, the early work before construction, costs $500K to $1M. It pays for feasibility studies, site lease negotiations and front-end engineering (FEED).

From several sources at once. Federal: the Strategic Response Fund and the Clean Hydrogen Investment Tax Credit, now law (Bill C-59). Provincial: CleanBC, and LCFS credits worth $8.5M a year. Plus private investment and possible infrastructure partners. PDEC is now in early development (Phase 0). The work now is to get letters of intent from customers, site agreements and commitments from anchor funders.

Four phases, from 2026 to 2033 and beyond. Phase 0 (2026-2027, now) is the early work: site leases with BC Hydro, feasibility and FEED studies, a plan for working with First Nations, letters of intent from customers, and seed funding. Budget: $500K to $1M. Phase 1 (2028-2030): install the electrolyzer at Burrard Thermal, build the fuelling hub at Waterfront Station, start tube trailer deliveries, fuel the first customers and test methane pyrolysis. Budget: $368.4M gross, $110.3M after tax credits and grants.

Phase 2 (2030-2032): run the plant at full capacity (23,627 kg/day), grow pyrolysis to commercial scale, add the remaining customers and start blending hydrogen into FortisBC's natural gas. Phase 3 (2033+): supply hydrogen for green steel, including a plant in the Elk Valley that makes hot briquetted iron (HBI). Green HBI is exported to Asia-Pacific, and coal workers get a just transition. Each phase can be funded, and its risks reduced, on its own.

PDEC is at an early stage of working with First Nations. Dr. Matt Murphy (Professor of Sustainability and Strategy, UVic Gustavson; leads The Balance Co-Lab) advises on how to do it. The approach is based on free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), in line with UNDRIP and BC's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).

PDEC is led by Vincent Royer, PMP (Project Management Professional), an MBA candidate at the UVic Gustavson School of Business. The team includes Dr. Matt Murphy (Indigenous engagement and academic partnerships), Robin Shelley (communications and marketing) and Olenka Stepanova, CPHR (people and organizational strategy). The project runs through 17776098 Canada Inc., a federal CBCA corporation.

Methane pyrolysis is starting to be used commercially. It needs only 37.5 kJ of energy per mole of hydrogen, less than a third of what water electrolysis uses (285.8 kJ/mol). Monolith Inc. runs the world's first commercial-scale plant, in Nebraska (TRL 9, the top technology readiness level). It makes 5,000 tonnes of hydrogen and 14,000 tonnes of carbon black a year, and sells the carbon black to Goodyear for EV tires.

In Canada, Ekona Power (Burnaby, BC) and Aurora Hydrogen have reached pilot and demonstration scale. BASF and ExxonMobil signed a joint development agreement in late 2025 for a near-commercial demonstration plant in Texas. PDEC runs pyrolysis and biomass with BECCS alongside electrolysis. Net of their carbon sales and credits, those two cost less per kg than electrolysis; the average production cost across all three is $4.63/kg. If one process stops, the other two keep supplying. BECCS brings the average carbon intensity below zero.

Carbon black is a large, established global market, worth $22-29 billion in 2025 and growing 4.5-5.4% a year (CAGR). North American carbon black sold for about USD $1,887/t (about CAD $2,585/t) in July 2026. Tires and industrial rubber use 70-73% of it. The rest goes into lithium-ion battery electrodes, conductive plastics, coatings and building materials. Monolith's partnership with Goodyear shows the market will buy carbon black made this way.

PDEC would make ~8,212 tonnes of carbon a year. That is small next to North American demand, so it would not flood the market. At the $1,000/t PDEC plans to lock in with an offtake contract, about 40% of spot, it would bring in about $8.2M a year.

Over $10 billion in hydrogen projects were cancelled in 2024-2025. Most were speculative export megaprojects that failed for the same reasons. They had no binding contracts with buyers. Their green hydrogen cost $5-8/kg, far above grey hydrogen made from natural gas. They relied on pipelines and shipping that did not exist, and on government subsidies that kept changing.

PDEC is set up differently on each of these points. It makes hydrogen close to 26 local customers, so there is no long-distance transport cost. It builds on the Burrard Thermal site, which already has gas, rail and industrial zoning. Its average production cost is $4.63/kg, and it sells at $6.50/kg under take-or-pay contracts, about 13% below the diesel it replaces, with no carbon price needed. The industry consensus now favours local industrial hubs over export megaprojects.

The BC Transit pilot in Whistler (2010-2014) ran 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses at a cost of $89.5M. It ended in 2014, mainly because of logistics. There was no local hydrogen production, so liquid hydrogen was trucked 4,000-5,000 km from Quebec. Fuel cost $2.28/km, against $0.65/km for diesel. About 65% of the fleet's carbon footprint came from moving the fuel. The buses were available 64-69% of the time, against the 85-90% standard, partly because of cold-weather problems with 2010-era fuel cells.

This is the lesson PDEC is built on: hydrogen has to be made close to where it is used. PDEC makes hydrogen at the point of use, which removes the transport cost and emissions that sank the Whistler pilot.

Methane pyrolysis splits natural gas (CH4) into hydrogen and solid carbon without burning it, so it emits no direct CO2. The solid carbon can be sold ($1,000/tonne under a planned offtake contract, bringing in $8.2M/year).

Running it alongside electrolysis and biomass with BECCS gives PDEC four things. (1) If the grid, the gas supply or the biomass supply is cut, the other processes keep going. (2) Net of carbon sales, pyrolysis costs $2.50/kg, below electrolysis ($4.32/kg); the average across all three is $4.63/kg. (3) The average carbon intensity is below zero, which qualifies for the top 40% Clean Hydrogen ITC. (4) Extra income from carbon, biochar, stored CO2, oxygen and district heat by-products.