BC clean energy incubator issues first funding awards

The British Columbia Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE), launched by the BC government and Shell Canada in 2021, said July 5 it had awarded grants to eight innovators actively developing low-carbon hydrogen, renewable natural gas (RNG) and battery storage technologies.

Individual grant totals were not disclosed, nor was the total amount of the funding provided by CICE.

“We launched this first Open Call for Innovation with the intention of better understanding the opportunity ecosystem and were amazed to be significantly oversubscribed by high-quality projects,” CICE deputy executive director Yemi Adefulu said.

Within the bio, synthetic fuels and RNG focus area, Hydron Energy is developing small scale RNG technology, while Parkland Refining is investigating low-carbon feedstocks to decarbonise transportation fuels.

In the low-carbon hydrogen space, Hydra Energy is scaling up hydrogen conversions of heavy-duty vehicles, Ekona Power is producing clean hydrogen through pulsed methane pyrolysis technology, HTEC (Hydrogen Technology and Energy Corporation) is building hydrogen technology and supply solutions to decarbonise certain operations at the Port of Vancouver, while Ballard Power Systems is working to deliver a first-of-its-kind fuel cell electric truck.

And Moment Energy and Corvus Energy were awarded grant funding in the battery and electric storage focus area.

“The magnitude of opportunities made evident that innovation is originating from both big-name players and smaller-scale entities,” Adefulu said. “It is exciting to see larger companies diversifying their innovation initiatives balanced with smaller organisations looking to commercialise their technologies.”