Family business wins pivotal design contract

CEM Engineering will help design ‘transformational’ Niagara Hydrogen Centre project

A St. Catharines-based family company will play a pivotal role in the development of a hydrogen production facility to be built in Niagara Falls by 2024.

CEM Engineering was selected as one of two engineering companies developing detailed design for the Niagara Hydrogen Centre, a 20megawatt hydrogen production facility to be built by Atura Power, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, on the grounds of the Sir Adam Beck power plant.

CEM Engineering chief executive officer Matt Lensink said much of the work the 20-year-old company has been previously involved in has been in Western Canada and the U.S., “but to have something that is literally just around the corner is just awesome for our team, and to be involved in something that is so transformational in terms of the scope of the project, as well.”

Lensink said the firm partnered with Sacré-davey Engineering of North Vancouver, B.C., to bid on the contract to complete detailed design for the largest green hydrogen production facility in Ontario that will use electrolysis to produce hydrogen from water.

With the completion of designs, technology selection and procurement activities expected by the end of this summer, and a target of completing the facility by early 2024 pending federal funding, the company faces tight timelines to complete the project.

“We have been ramping up our efforts before this, of course, and have been excited to really add some great people to our organizations and create some exciting jobs as a result, and will look to continue to do that,” Lensink said, adding about 50 staff from both its Niagara and Oakville offices will be assigned to the project.

Lensink said the project is a step toward “building an ecosystem — finding ways of using renewable energy to produce green hydrogen, and then to build out from there.”

He hopes to work with Atura to explore ways of using the oxygen and heat produced as a side-benefit of the hydrogen production.

Lensink is the second generation of his family running the business his uncle Martin started in St. Catharines, which has since expanded to include offices in Oakville and Calgary.

“What’s exciting about this is we can bring clean hydrogen, a safe fuel by contrast to other fuels, and do so in a green manner,” Lensink said.

“The future is very exciting.”