Vancouver, British Columbia – First Hydrogen Corp. (TSXV: FHYD) (OTC Pink: FHYDF) (FSE: FIT) (“FIRST HYDROGEN” or the “Company”) is pleased with Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s fall economic announcement to keep pace with United State’s Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) which authorizes $369 billion (U.S.) in spending on energy and climate change.
The Canadian Government will be implementing two new tax credits to promote investment. The first incentive will be a refundable tax credit equal to 30 percent of the capital cost of investments in clean energy technology including zero-emission industrial vehicles. The second incentive will be an investment tax credit to support investments in clean hydrogen production.
First Hydrogen’s two demonstrator vehicles will be undergoing customer trials on public roads commencing January 2023 for a period of 24 months during which the Company expects to collect significant proprietary data from fleet owners and to capture high-level interest for future orders. The vans will be trialled in real-world conditions with major fleet operators initially in the UK and enable the Company to publicly showcase its leading design and accelerate the adoption by light commercial vehicle owners of fuel cell-powered vehicles to replace aging diesel fleets. A total of 14 fleet operators in various industries including telecoms, utilities, infrastructure, delivery, grocery and healthcare have signed up to participate in the trials.
First Hydrogen is also working in parallel to arrange green hydrogen generation and distribution under its “Hydrogen as a Service” (HASS) program to provide a holistic solution to the market. First Hydrogen’s plans are underway in the UK, Europe, and North America to provide this solution. The North American focus will initially be on Canada with its enormous resources of renewable energy (hydropower, solar and wind) that can be used to produce green hydrogen yielding no carbon emissions. Canada has identified the domestic deployment of hydrogen as a key to meeting its climate change commitments. On July 6, 2022, the Canadian government released its Clean Fuel Standard, which will aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the use of clean technologies and fuels. It was followed up with an announcement of funding for Medium-and-Heavy-Duty Zero-Emission Vehicles (the iMHZEV program will provide $547.5M of funding over four years). This new policy commitment will aid in creating new demand for commercial vehicles using green hydrogen.
Balraj Mann, CEO of First Hydrogen, says, “The announcement by Minister Freedland builds on the hydrogen alliance, announced in August 2022, with Germany. The combination of tax incentives and renewable energy resources available in Canada will help the country achieve its goal of net-zero emissions.”
Rob Campbell, CEO of First Hydrogen Energy, says, “This announcement supporting clean energy and green hydrogen production shows the overall momentum to scale up the Canadian clean tech industry. It has come only weeks after the bold action by the United States with the IRA and just prior to the important COP27 conference in Egypt. These initiatives are totally in step with our plans to develop green hydrogen eco-systems to Canada.”
About First Hydrogen Corp. (FirstHydrogen.com)
First Hydrogen Corp. is a Vancouver and London UK-based company focused on zero-emission vehicles, green hydrogen production and distribution and supercritical carbon dioxide extractor systems. The Company is designing and building hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered light commercial demonstrator vehicles (“LCV”) under two agreements with AVL Powertrain and Ballard Power Systems Inc. The LCV will have a range of 500+ kilometres. At the same time, the company has launched its bespoke vehicle design phase which will develop its fleet of proprietary zero-emission vehicles. First Hydrogen is also developing refueling capability working with FEV Consulting GmbH, the automotive consultancy of FEV Group of Aachen Germany. The Company is also pursuing opportunities in green hydrogen production and distribution in the UK, EU and North America.
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