In January 2024, Enbridge and FortisBC announced funding for companion studies to produce an integrated summary that will examine how hydrogen can be used and delivered on British Columbia’s existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure.
Enbridge and FortisBC are conducting these studies in tandem to take a look at the percentage of hydrogen that can be safely transported through the province’s pipelines. Enbridge operates the primary natural gas transmission system in British Columbia, supplying natural gas to FortisBC’s natural gas transmission and distribution system.
These studies will also examine whether residential, commercial and industrial customers can use hydrogen safely across a wide range of applications and will look at the impact on cross-border interconnecting pipelines and downstream users outside of Enbridge and FortisBC’s customer base. In addition, during this process, the studies will provide a technical evaluation and an operation and maintenance analysis of the pipeline systems, examine the logistics of hydrogen implementation and look at the proposed revisions that will need to be made to the pipeline system’s existing operating and integrity standards.
These studies are considered a critical first step to using hydrogen as a low-carbon form of energy in British Columbia and across Canada.
“FortisBC recognizes that we have a critical role to play in helping our customers reduce greenhouse gas emissions by providing new energy options that can be delivered safely and reliably through our existing gas system,” said Roger Dall’Antonia, president and CEO at FortisBC. “Our long-term vision is to have hydrogen be part of our renewable and low-carbon gas supply, and collaboration with industry and government in research such as this is a pivotal step toward finding the safest way of making that vision a reality.”
“At Enbridge, we are working hard to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon intensity of the energy we transport,” added Cynthia Hansen, Enbridge executive vice president, gas transmission and midstream. “One way we’re doing this is by using our existing energy infrastructure to transport low-carbon forms of energy such as hydrogen. This important study will play a critical role in determining how energy infrastructure can be used to transport hydrogen and how we can continue to work to advance the energy transition.”
The British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation is also contributing funding to this project.
If the study determines it’s safe to transport hydrogen in the province’s existing natural gas system, it will be used to inform the development of codes and standards to regulate the transportation of hydrogen and help develop a commercial hydrogen market in British Columbia.