Canada's hydrogen deal with Germany could mean big business — for salt

Patrick Laracy says the historic deal signed Tuesday between Canada and Germany involving hydrogen energy could be a boon for his company’s salt reserve in western Newfoundland.

Laracy is the chief executive officer of Atlas Salt Inc., which owns the mineral rights to a subterranean cylinder of salt called the Fischell’s Brook salt dome, which reaches more than 2.4 kilometres into the earth.

The company says the vertical salt column near St. George’s, N.L., spans an area of about five square kilometres, and Laracy says it could be used to store industrial quantities of hydrogen.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signed a deal in the nearby town of Stephenville, N.L., Tuesday to kick−start a transatlantic hydrogen supply chain, with the first deliveries expected in three years.

A company called World Energy GH2 has proposed up to 164 onshore wind turbines to power a hydrogen production facility in the town, with long−term plans of tripling the project’s size.

Laracy says he believes storage capabilities will be an important component of hydrogen projects in the area, and he says salt chambers make perfect vessels for gas storage because the mineral’s low permeability traps the gas.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2022.