In less than a year, green hydrogen developer, EverWind Fuels (EverWind) has become a driving force advancing Atlantic Canada’s green energy economy with plans well underway to be Canada’s first zero carbon green fuels producer by 2025.

EverWind is a developer of green hydrogen and ammonia production, storage facilities, and associated transportation assets. EverWind is led by Trent Vichie, a co-founder of Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, one of the largest infrastructure investors in the world. EverWind’s executive team members have experience supporting more than $45 billion in capital projects and have held CEO and C-Suite positions at various infrastructure, private equity, renewable power, utilities, terminals, and marine logistics companies.

The journey in Atlantic Canada started with the purchase of Nova Scotia’s Point Tupper deep-water trans-shipment terminal in the spring of 2022. EverWind recognized that owning a fully permitted marine terminal, with in excess of $600 million of existing assets and about 100 full-time staff (employees and contractors), it would have a significant head start in developing the first large scale green hydrogen project in the country. Furthermore, the facility’s world class operations and safety track record (no lost time incidents in 17 years) would also help build the foundation for green fuels operations. Arguably, the best safety record in the industry in North America.

In its first phase, EverWind’s Point Tupper facility will produce green hydrogen and green ammonia from 350MW of green power produced by newly-developed onshore wind farms being developed throughout the Province. These electrons will then be transported to Point Tupper on Nova Scotia Power’s transmission system, creating a new revenue stream for the utility. EverWind is also currently developing an approximately 2 GW onshore wind farm that will produce green power for the Project’s second phase. The first two phases will produce a combined 1 million tonnes of green ammonia per year.

Strategically Positioned to Support Offshore Wind Development
EverWind is aligned with Nova Scotia’s goal to achieve 5 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030. EverWind’s scalable production facilities and export terminal will help catalyze the development of large-scale offshore wind projects that are in need of industrial scale buyers of green power to support the multi-billion-dollar investments. As Atlantic Canada’s first green fuels facility by 2025, EverWind’s Point Tupper site will be a landing spot for offshore wind green power and an established hub for green ammonia export out of Atlantic Canada.

Atlantic Canada’s First Mover Advantage
A key part of its business strategy is what EverWind calls their “First Mover Advantage”. They believe that being a global first to market developer in green hydrogen means EverWind will bring the most value to the region, providing the required speed to access global markets and certainty of execution.

“As a first mover in Atlantic Canada, EverWind is establishing a globally competitive clean energy hub, unlocking the immense opportunity presented by green hydrogen,” said Vichie. “This enhances the region’s ability to compete globally and create the first mover supply chains necessary to scale quickly in new markets. This significant economic upside is compounded by a meaningful opportunity for Canada to continue supporting its European allies in their green energy transition and ambitious decarbonization goals.”

First Nation Partnerships & Economic Reconciliation
In August 2022, EverWind entered into landmark Memorandums of Understanding (“MOUs”) with the corporate entities of three Mi’kmaw communities, Paqtnkek (Bayside Corporation), Membertou, and Potlotek. EverWind acknowledges the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaw people and take our responsibility toward economic reconciliation very seriously. These partnerships ensure that Mi’kmaw have a voice throughout the development of the project while also securing meaningful and direct economic and social benefits for their communities.

According to Rose Paul, CEO of Bayside Corporation, “EverWind has included the Mi’kmaw in its development since the inception of its project, aligning two-eyed seeing approaches with its project economics. True partnerships like this are the embodiment of what economic reconciliation means and enable Mi’kmaw to meet our goals of securing economic independence and energy sovereignty.”

 

 

Putting Communities First
EverWind believes that successful development of a wind/hydrogen project is only possible through community engagement, open communication and the earning of local support.

The EverWind – Clean Energy Project Community Liaison Committee in Nova Scotia is bringing together community members, First Nations, economic development groups, local governments, and other stakeholders to provide insight and guidance on community impacts and opportunities for the project at Point Tupper.

“When it comes to wind energy projects, local communities need to be treated like partners, not just stake-holders,” explains Vichie. “Direct economic alignment, combined with early and continuous engagement, are key in building and maintaining social license. Local communities need to see direct benefits from these projects improving the quality of life in their region, otherwise “why support them?”. Our approach creates opportunities for win-win situations.”

So far EverWind’s strategy is proving to be successful with 2022 ending on a high note. In December, EverWind learned it was the successful proponent in the Nova Scotia request for applications to exclusively pursue leases for Crown Land to develop a wind farm by 2026 that will power a gigawatt-scale production of green hydrogen and ammonia.

Burin Peninsula Development
EverWind is also in the process of developing a sister project on the Burin Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, one of North America’s windiest areas. “It was easy to see the Peninsula’s attributes,” said Vichie. “The region’s ice-free deep-water harbours, available land and of course, the strong wind conditions, make it an ideal location for a large-scale green hydrogen / ammonia project. Furthermore, the Burin Peninsula has a proud history of industrial activity and has the motivated and skilled workforce necessary to make a project of this scale a reality. It is a winning formula, so we are working together toward a project application with the Province.”

As in Nova Scotia, EverWind actively engaged at a community level in Newfoundland, having dozens of meetings and consultation sessions on the Burin Peninsula. EverWind also met with many of the province’s leading diversity, inclusion and equity organizations and is gaining significant support for a potential development. With success, it will also establish another Clean Energy Project Community Liaison Committee (CLC) for the Burin Peninsula region.

Aligned with Canadian Priorities
EverWind’s projects are expected to create thousands of jobs and attract meaningful ancillary industry and technological IP to the region. Its projects will support significant economic development in rural areas in Atlantic Canada that can attract billions of dollars in new investment, create new jobs, and help make Canada a global leader in this exciting industry.

EverWind has the only development project positioned to deliver on Canada’s commitment to export clean Canadian hydrogen to Germany by 2025 through offtake partnerships with Uniper and E.ON. EverWind is also working toward signing binding offtake agreements for one million tonnes of annual green ammonia exports from Canada to Germany starting in 2026 (~200,000 tonnes starting in 2025 for Phase 1).

Ultimately, EverWind is supporting the Government of Canada’s Hydrogen Strategy and is clearly aligned with the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan. EverWind’s green energy hub will contribute significantly to diversifying Canada’s energy mix and enabling the decarbonization of downstream industrial, civilian, agricultural and energy-intensive activities, facilitated through green hydrogen/ ammonia production.