Stephenville mayor, businesses still hopeful as World Energy GH2 revises plans for wind project

World Energy GH2's plans to build a controversial wind-powered green hydrogen and ammonia plant in western Newfoundland are shifting — with the company no longer providing a timeline for construction — but Stephenville residents and businesses say they're hopeful the project will happen. 

The company acknowledged in November that it was having difficulty finding markets for green hydrogen and ammonia.

While it revises its plans for Project Nujio'qonik, it is "looking at other opportunities to develop renewable energy in the nearer term," it said in a written statement Thursday.

Those other opportunities could come in the form of a data centre or e-fuel production, according to spokesperson Laura Barron. The statement provided no timeline for construction or production of those projects, but said that long term, World Energy still hopes to develop a green hydrogen and ammonia plant in Stephenville.

The statement also noted that any new version of a project would require a new environmental assessment.

Optimism in Stephenville

Stephenville Mayor Tom Rose said Wednesday that despite World Energy's sudden shift to powering potential data centres and e-fuel production facilities in the short term, he is "probably more confident now than [he] was a few years ago."

"World Energy has kind of pivoted to say, 'what other industries would want to come to Stephenville,' because we have world-class infrastructure, we have world class winds, and that green energy is still very much sought after by multinationals," Rose said in an interview with Radio-Canada. 

Rose said he is not giving up faith and wants to instill that hope in his town's residents. He said Stephenville is growing based on economic speculation alone. 

"When we look back at 2024, our business permits in Stephenville went up by 30 per cent, our housing permits went up by 30 per cent, and that's evident of the confidence in the community," said Rose.

"We really, really, really, really need the bricks and mortar and the announcement and the jobs," Rose continued. 

When the project was first submitted to the provincial government for environmental assessment in 2022, World Energy  said it hoped to begin producing green hydrogen and ammonia as early as 2025. Last June, CEO Sean Leet told reporters up to 600 wind turbines could be built in western Newfoundland.

But in November, the company told The Canadian Press it couldn't find a buyer and said it was shifting its focus to using wind energy to power "renewable energy campus" in the short term.

"The green ammonia market is not maturing at the rate expected. Policies, pricing and pipelines are not yet ready to support market development," Barron said Thursday.

Reassurance needed

Debbie Brake-Patten, president of the Bay St. George Chamber of Commerce, said the region needs economic growth.

"People are getting a little bit hopeless and discouraged," she said, adding that residents need confirmation that World Energy's project is actually happening. 

"I'm not really sure how much worse it could get economically for this area," she said, noting that its biggest employers are the local hospital, schools, the College of the North Atlantic and the penitentiary.

Residents of the nearby Port-au-Port Peninsula and Codroy Valley, where hundreds of wind turbines could be built, have voiced concerns over the environmental impacts of construction, but Brake-Patten said Stephenville business owners are on the same page: things are slow-going and the economy needs a boost.

Claudette Callahan, who owns stores in Stephenville and St. Georges, told Radio-Canada that she is still hopeful the project will come to fruition.

"We're still hoping and praying that someday in the near future… something will come out of it," she said.

No formal notice of changes given to province

CBC News asked provincial Energy Minister Andrew Parsons for his response to World Energy's changing plans, and received a written statement from his office.

"The department has not been formally advised of plans by World Energy GH2 to utilize the energy generated by its proposed wind turbines to power a data centre," the statement reads.

"Any material changes in the project from what was proposed in the call for bids process would require review by the provincial government."

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