Investments made in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies

Vancouver, BC June 9, 2003 The federal government and the National Research Council today announced a number of investments in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies at the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells International Conference, currently taking place in Vancouver.

“The funding initiatives announced today are great examples of how Canada has become a leader and innovator in pioneering hydrogen and fuel cell technologies,” said Stephen Owen, secretary of state. “The work begun at this conference will help build key partnerships here in Canada and abroad.”

Included in today’s announcement are funding initiatives from Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), and the National Research Council (NRC):

– $540,000 from WD to the Clean Energy Research Centre at the University of British Columbia. The project will assist the University of British Columbia in purchasing specialized equipment and instrumentation to help equip laboratories in the Faculty of Applied Science’s new clean energy research centre to conduct leading-edge research into fuel cell systems integration and hydrogen production technologies;

– $1.5 million from WD to support the operations of Fuel Cells Canada, a non-profit, national industry association;
and

– a total of $1.5 million from the NRC ($1 million) and WD ($500,000) for the NRC’s Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation (NRC-IFCI) hydrogen-ready environmental chamber controlled for temperature, humidity and altitude. This chamber will allow companies and researchers to test and evaluate fuel cell vehicles and products in conditions that simulate the Northern Territories, Winnipeg and Mexico City all from one location. This facility, along with nine hydrogen-ready labs, on-site expertise and safety infrastructure, supports the NRC’s research program and is available to industry for collaborative research or fee-for-service use.