TC Energy Corp. recently signed a joint agreement that sees the Canadian pipeline operator collaborating on the codevelopment of large-scale hydrogen production hubs in the U.S. and Canada.

A key objective of the collaboration with U.S.-based electric truck maker Nikola Corp. is to establish hubs producing 150 tonnes or more of hydrogen per day near highly traveled truck corridors to serve Nikola’s planned need for hydrogen to fuel its Class 8 heavy-duty zero-emission fuel cell electric vehicles within the next five years. 

“By leveraging our natural gas and power operations footprint, we see this new partnership as an important first step in facilitating access to affordable low-carbon production of hydrogen for the transportation and industrial sector,” Corey Hessen, TC Energy’s senior vice president and president of power and storage, commented in a joint release on Oct. 7.

According to the release, TC Energy has significant pipeline, storage and power assets that potentially can be leveraged to lower the cost and increase the speed of delivery of the hydrogen production hubs. This may include exploring the integration of midstream assets to enable hydrogen distribution and storage via pipeline and/or to deliver CO₂ to permanent sequestration sites to decarbonize the hydrogen production process.

“TC Energy is focused on our own decarbonization efforts as well as being the provider of choice for carbon-free energy to the North American industrial, natural gas and oil sectors,” Hessen added. “Nikola as a partner and as a customer aligns well with that approach.”

Nikola and TC Energy will evaluate opportunities to optimize excess hub supplies to third parties under a joint marketing and services arrangement, the release said.

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