John Risley calls time of death on green hydrogen plans. But he's still set on windmills

A massive wind-to-hydrogen project in western Newfoundland will not be going ahead, but one of its main proponents has a new multi-billion-dollar proposal involving windmills in the region.

John Risley wants to build a new $16-billion subsea and overland transmission network connecting the Atlantic provinces to Quebec.

Two lines would feed wind power — from onshore farms in Newfoundland and offshore projects in Nova Scotia — all the way to Hydro-Québec, where it could be exported to markets in the northeastern United States.

“We're spending millions of dollars as we speak," Risley told Radio-Canada on Monday.

"There’s a lot of money going into making this project real. I can’t tell you that it is real. But I can tell you that we’re committed to spend the money to try to make it real.”

The venture is a 50-50 partnership between Risley's Clean Grid Atlantic and Pattern Energy, a firm acquired by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in 2020.

This new proposal spells the end of plans by Risley's World Energy GH2 to build a world-leading green hydrogen and ammonia plant in Stephenville, but reimagines how the wind turbines that fed into the proposed plant could be used.

Risley sees the yet-to-be-constructed windfarms as a crucial part of the broader plan to export massive amounts of energy to Quebec and beyond.

“The grid is the highway and the wind project on the west coast of Newfoundland is one of the cars that would travel on the highway," Risley said.

Risley envisions the first phase of the project including five gigawatts of electricity from onshore wind in Newfoundland, combined with five gigawatts from offshore wind farms in Nova Scotia.

For context, the 150-turbine wind farm that World Energy GH2 proposed on the Port au Port Peninsula could produce up to one gigawatt of electricity. Risley believes the other proponents behind green hydrogen projects in Newfoundland could feed into the interconnected system he wants to build.

He estimates Clean Grid Atlantic and Pattern Energy will spend more than $300 million on the proposal before reaching a final investment decision, which he said will occur in 12 to 18 months.

Risley believes there is a business model there that would make investment attractive.

“Once the business case is proven, finding the capital won’t be a problem.”