BC amends regulation to increase production, use of green and waste hydrogen

The government of B.C. has amended the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Regulation (GGRR) to increase the production and use of green and waste hydrogen, as well as renewable gas.

The amendments support the province’s upcoming hydrogen strategy, which aims to increase the production and use of low-carbon hydrogen to help achieve B.C.’s climate targets. The changes include:

• increasing the amount of renewable gas utilities can buy and provide from five per cent to 15 per cent of their total annual supply of natural gas
• allowing utilities to obtain hydrogen, renewable natural gas (RNG) and other renewable gases by producing it or upgrading it themselves for injection into the pipeline, paying a third party to produce or upgrade it, or buying hydrogen, synthesis gas or lignin to displace the use of natural gas at customers’ facilities
• allowing the current price cap of $40 per gigajoule for utilities to increase with inflation
• enabling utilities to buy and supply green and waste hydrogen, synthesis gas and lignin

“Changes to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Regulation are important to accelerate the growth of B.C.’s renewable gas supply,” said Roger Dall’Antonia, president and CEO, FortisBC, in a statement. “By increasing the renewable gas cap and expanding the regulation to include other renewable gases, such as hydrogen, we’re entering an exciting new phase of renewable energy development that will accelerate the transformation of our natural gas infrastructure into a delivery system for carbon-neutral energy.”