Government of Canada Invests over $13.6 Million in Vancouver's World-Class Fuel Cell Industry

Public-Private Partnerships Work to Commercialize Green Energy Technologies

May 2, 2008, Vancouver, BC – The Government of Canada today announced a $13.6 million investment in the National Research Council (NRC)'s Vancouver-based fuel cell and hydrogen industry and officially opened the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Gateway – a technology demonstration and exhibit centre showcasing Canada's world-leading fuel cell and hydrogen industry. Representing the Honourable Jim Prentice, Industry Minister and Minister responsible for NRC, the Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources, reconfirmed the Government of Canada's support for the work NRC and its partners have been doing to catalyze science and technology-based partnerships in Vancouver's fuel cell and hydrogen technologies cluster.

Today's announcement is part of a larger $118 million Government of Canada investment in six NRC technology cluster initiatives – Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies in Vancouver; Nanotechnology in Edmonton; Plants for Health and Wellness in Saskatoon; Biomedical Technologies in Winnipeg; Photonics in Ottawa and Aluminium Transformation in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. 

"Our Government supports private-public research collaborations that accelerate the commercialization of hydrogen-based energy and alternatives that will lead to cleaner, renewable fuels," said Minister Lunn. "The time is right to develop solutions that respond to our environmental and energy-related challenges and create a competitive advantage for our country."

In addition to the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Gateway demonstration centre introduced at today's announcement, a world-class NRC research facility that works with all of Canada's major fuel cell developers and users has been created; construction has begun on the only publicly available hydrogen-rated environmental test chamber in North America; and Vancouver now is generally recognized as an international leader in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and in modeling and materials research on membranes and catalysts.

Innovative firms have also made significant headway in commercializing hydrogen and fuel cell solutions. For example, local firm MagPower successfully raised $22 million to commercialize its magnesium-based fuel cell based on a catalyst developed by NRC; Plug Power, a recent graduate from NRC's Industry Partnership Facility, is now considered a leader in the fork lift market; and several local companies have partnered to become leaders in the commercialization of fuel cell technologies in niche markets.

"This technology cluster initiative highlights how NRC is focused on collaborative research with public and private sector partners that is inching Canada ever closer to making the commercialization of environmentally friendly fuel cell and hydrogen technologies a real possibility," said Dr. Pierre Coulombe, NRC President. "The impacts this technology will have on our environment and economy are limitless."

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http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/newsroom/news/2008/fuelcell08-nr_e.html