It’s been quite the year for CICE – one full of joy and growing optimism. For those that don’t know our story, we were established as a not-for-profit organization in fall 2021, raising $105M through member-based partnerships with the Government of British Columbia, Shell Canada Ltd. and the Government of Canada. It may sound like an “overly influential” collection of private and public members to start, but since day one we have been given the reigns to operate independently of government and private entities, with one primary focus: Accelerating the world towards a net-zero carbon future. We do this by granting non-dilutive funding to help the development, commercialization and scaling of our most promising “made-in-B.C.” clean energy solutions.
In the short year since our creation, CICE has committed close to $6M into projects – all contributing to the development of a net zero carbon future – either through direct emission reduction or enablement of zero carbon technologies and businesses. We fast-track credible world-class solutions with high impact potential in:
- Low carbon hydrogen
- Renewable natural gas
- Battery technology and energy storage
- Carbon management (including but not limited to CCUS)
- Bioenergy, biofuels and synthetic fuels
It brings us great joy to fund innovative start-up and scale-up companies such as Hydra Energy, who is accelerating trucking industry decarbonization by creating a Western Canadian-wide installer network for its hydrogen conversion kits and breaking ground on the world’s largest hydrogen refueling station for heavy duty trucks. This allows heavy-duty trucks to run on hydrogen-diesel co-combustion, displacing their emissions up to 40%.
Another company, HTEC, recently announced its agreement with ERCO Worldwide to purchase land in North Vancouver and co-locate a 15-tonne per day clean hydrogen plant to meet the growing demand for clean fuel alternatives in B.C.
In addition, Moment Energy’s founders were recognized on the Forbes top 30 under 30 clean energy list for the work they are doing to repurpose electric vehicle batteries for off-grid energy generation projects. In July 2022, the company announced an international supply agreement with Mercedes-Benz Energy (MBE) for second-life electric vehicle batteries.
BC-based Corvus Energy is likewise making big waves, providing shoreside battery energy storage systems for the first all-electric tug in the U.S., and winning the Seatrade Marine Technology Award for proving it is possible for large passenger ships such as Kystruten’s Havila Castor to sail on battery-power alone.
Hydron Energy is also positioned to scale with strategic partnerships and funding from Modern Niagra and Standard Nutrition Company. These investments will accelerate the commercialization of Hydron’s biogas-to-RNG upgrading technology.
Naught to be left off our “nice” list is Ekona Power, who has come one step closer to unlocking the power of clean hydrogen and commercializing its novel methane pyrolysis solution. In February 2022 the company announced a CAD $79 million equity investment led by Baker Hughes, and backed by Mitsui, Severstal, ConocoPhillips, TransAlta, Continental Resources, NGIF Cleantech Ventures, and BDC Capital.
And these are just some of the clean energy advancements that have put an extra jingle in our step. In 2023, CICE will continue riding this incredible momentum and deploy a further $24M into B.C. based projects – starting with an Open Call for Innovation that will kick off January 16th 2023.
But that’s enough about us. We’d like to know what’s brought you joy in 2022. Hit reply and share with us!
Happy holidays, and wishing you a healthy, happy and prosperous 2023!
The CICE team