Company behind proposed wind-hydrogen project withdraws from environmental assessment, returning with ‘phased approach’

The company behind a proposed green hydrogen project on the southwest Avalon Peninsula has withdrawn its submission from provincial environmental assessment, but it says a proposal for a new project is coming within weeks.

On Nov. 21 the province’s Department of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change announced Argentia Renewables Wind LP, a Canadian subsidiary of San Francisco-based Pattern Energy, had withdrawn its project from the environmental assessment process.

On Monday, Frank Davis, head of Pattern Energy in Canada, said the company remains “fully committed to Argentia Renewables,” and that Pattern is “preparing a new Environmental Assessment that reflects a phased approach.”

Davis said withdrawing the company’s previous project—which included a proposed 300-megawatt wind farm to power the production of hydrogen for export—was “part of that process,” and that the company will be filing a new environmental assessment (EA) submission for a “stand-alone wind project in the coming weeks, after completing all required consultation with local stakeholders.

“The revised EA outlines a wind generation project designed to deliver energy to Newfoundland and Labrador,” Davis said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to continuing our work with the province as development moves ahead.”

‘Timing changed’: Port of Argentia CEO

The originally-proposed Argential Renewables Project, registered with the environmental assessment office in August 2024, was to be a partnership with the Port of Argentia for a 300-MW onshore wind farm to power a green hydrogen and ammonia production, storage and export facility at the southwest Avalon port, near the communities of Placentia, Freshwater, Ferndale and Dunville in Placentia Bay.

A few months earlier, in March, the Port of Argentia signed a letter of intent with the Hamburg Port Authority in Hamburg, Germany “to collaborate on the export and import of green hydrogen from Canada to Germany,” according to a news release at the time.

The letter “strategically aligns [both ports] to facilitate the development of a hydrogen export/import corridor as we collectively establish our ports as leaders in the global energy transition,” Port of Argentia CEO Scott Penney said in the release.

But the industry and market realities didn’t keep pace with the green hydrogen hype, which saw  a number of companies propose projects from Port au Port and Stephenville on the island’s west coast, to the Avalon Peninsula — all of them vying for early access to international markets. The largest of those projects, the Port au Port-Stephenville Wind Power and Hydrogen Generation Project, was backed by billionaire John Risley and company World Energy GH2, which earlier this year backtracked on their plans and was “looking at other opportunities to develop renewable energy in the nearer term,” the company told CBC.

Pattern Energy and Argentia Renewables is still eyeing the goal of hydrogen production, Davis said. If approved, the company’s phased approach would see the company build a wind farm that could generate up to 150MW of power for the province’s energy grid.

Davis said the company is “not starting from scratch,” and that the new registration “will largely rely on the studies, analysis and consultation conducted in the first EA registration.”

In July NL Hydro called for expressions of interest “for the supply of energy and/or capacity to meet the increasing demands” of the province’s interconnected grid.

Penney said the project’s “timing changed” when NL Hydro issued that call, making a wind energy project “more immediate,” he told The Independent Tuesday.

“When you take a wind-only project, it’s a totally different project,” he said. “So for us, it’s really about the investment. Yes, the investment is somewhat smaller, but as a province we need renewable energy […] and we need to find ways to reduce the reliance on Holyrood.”

Community resistance to proposed projects

In addition to the green hydrogen industry being new to the province and North America, the size and scale of the proposed projects—and the speed with which they were being rushed through by proponents and government—sparked significant resistance from local communities, particularly on the island’s west coast.

Pattern recently held an open house in Placentia to inform residents of its change in plans, and Davis said the company will be “completing all required consultation with local stakeholders” before submitting its new environmental assessment documents.

Penney said energy projects often take years to plan and bring to fruition, and that “getting to that final investment decision is not an insignificant process.” He said the Port of Argentia is “just glad they’re still interested and they want to stay within the province and continue to invest in the port. That’s the main thing.”