Good afternoon.
Thank you to the members of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources for inviting me to take part in its study on the low-carbon and renewable fuels industry.
I'm delighted to appear before you today to discuss the important role low-carbon and renewable fuels can play in Canada's decarbonization targets and the creation of economic opportunities.
First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Frédéric Verlez, and I am the senior vice-president of business development and strategy at Evolugen. I oversee the business strategies related to Evolugen's assets, the company's growth through acquisitions, and the development of and investment in new technologies.
Evolugen is the Canadian operating business of Brookfield Renewable, which established its first publicly traded entity in 1999, in Gatineau, Quebec, with three hydroelectric stations located along the Lièvre River, in southwestern Quebec. Those assets have been operational for more than a century. Through its companies and subsidiaries, Brookfield Renewable now has a portfolio of 20,000 megawatts in installed capacity and approximately $50 billion in assets under management, making it one of the world's leading renewable energy platforms.
In Canada, we own and operate 61 renewable power facilities—producing hydroelectricity, wind power and solar energy—for a total of 1,900 megawatts in installed capacity. Our facilities are located in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.
While we have traditionally focused on renewable power, we recognize that decarbonization will require diverse and sustainable solutions focused on accelerating the transition to a low-carbon energy future. We're currently working to expand our role into broader decarbonization solutions to help our partners achieve their carbon reduction goals.
One such example is low-carbon hydrogen. Recently, we announced our collaboration with Gazifère, an Enbridge company, to develop one of Canada’s largest renewable hydrogen injection projects, to be located in Quebec. As part of this joint effort, we shared plans to build and operate an approximately 20-megawatt water electrolysis hydrogen production plant in the Outaouais region. This plant will use renewable electricity from our Masson facility to produce renewable hydrogen.
This will be the first large-scale project in Quebec and Canada to produce renewable hydrogen for injection into a natural gas distribution network, a model with significant expansion potential. In Canada, there is a high potential market depth for low-carbon hydrogen given broad use across hard-to-abate and carbon-intensive industries.
The facility will generate considerable environmental and economic benefits regionally, provincially and nationally. Specifically, the project will avoid approximately 15,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, in addition to generating significant local economic benefits, including new jobs and additional property tax revenue. Over time, our focus will be on expanding to additional end uses and replicating this model at other facilities, including new renewable power facilities dedicated to hydrogen production.
We believe that our hydrogen efforts are in line with the policy objectives of the Canadian federal government and those of many provinces across Canada, which have been expressed through carbon reduction targets, hydrogen strategies and clean fuel requirements. In the current environment, hydrogen can also play an important role in our post-pandemic economic recovery, stimulating investment and job creation.
That said, seizing Canada’s hydrogen opportunity is not without challenges, and the involvement of governments is necessary to maximize this opportunity. Specifically, we see a role for government in creating clear, straightforward and responsive policy and regulatory frameworks for hydrogen production, distribution and end use, with an initial focus on near-term applications; helping to reduce production cost through direct investments and creating value streams for low-carbon fuels; helping to overcome technological and cost barriers associated with transporting hydrogen, such as through the creation of shared-use infrastructure; supporting end-use uptake; and, finally, facilitating access to financing. We strongly believe that by working together with governments and all industry players, Canada can become a leader in the production and use of low-carbon hydrogen and biofuels.
Thanks again to the committee for allowing me to speak today. I look forward to the opportunity to answer your questions.