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Our podcast features special guests and leaders discussing the many projects, partnerships, and innovations driving hydrogen adoption — starting in the Edmonton Metro Region, and expanding outward to Alberta, Canada, and the World.
Edmonton Region Hydrogen HUB is a collaborative initiative dedicated to advancing a thriving hydrogen economy in the Edmonton Region and beyond. Bringing together municipalities, industry, and associations, the HUB focuses on building a robust hydrogen value chain through collaboration, system integration, and policy advocacy. Leveraging the region’s world-class hydrogen production facilities and strategic infrastructure, the HUB drives innovation, promotes decarbonization, and stimulates economic growth, positioning the Edmonton region as a global leader in sustainable hydrogen development.
Welcome to the Hydrogen 2.0 podcast where Alberta's energy story evolves. Join us as we explore what's changed, what's working, and what's next from Edmonton to beyond. Hey, everybody, and welcome to Hydrogen 2.0. I'm Bryn Griffiths. Well, today, we're heading out to the airport, and we're not going to catch a flight.
Bryn Griffiths:We're gonna find out why YEG is getting noticed around the world for the work that they're doing with hydrogen, plus how it fits into the bigger picture here in the Edmonton region. And joining me is our cohost, and he's also the executive director of the Edmonton region Hydrogen hub, Brent Lakeman. Hey, Brent.
Brent Lakeman:Hey, Bryn. Good to talk to you.
Bryn Griffiths:Well, look who we have. I'm excited about this because, you know, a lot of people just think of the airport as a place to catch a flight, and it is not that. It is everything. And our guest sees it as something much, much bigger, and they prove it every day. And joining us is the president and CEO of the Edmonton International Airport, Myron Keane.
Bryn Griffiths:It's good to have you with us. Hey.
Myron Keehn:Pleasure to be here. And, Brent, great to see you again. And, Brent, thank you for having us on.
Bryn Griffiths:Not a problem. So let me let me get started with this first and foremost. You've gotta be really busy. I announced a couple more flights over the last little while. We're we're really excited about the Air Canada flight in New York, but you...
Bryn Griffiths:You're keeping really busy, I see.
Myron Keehn:Yeah. We've got a great team of folks. We we announced five new flights with Porter in the last month. West China's largest growth in our market ever, 38% growth this winter winter schedule. Flair announced new flight to Saint John, Newfoundland, and we announced, of course, the New York flight yes...
Myron Keehn:On the... Last week. What's interesting as well is tomorrow, there'll be another announcement. Actually, I'm going over tonight. I'm not really seeing
Bryn Griffiths:Am I gonna be excited? Am I gonna be really excited?
Myron Keehn:I I sure hope so, and I hope you book it, and we'll be back on that. I'd be happy to talk about it. But the region's getting very well connected globally, and you're a one stop for anywhere going through one of our hubs, so it's pretty exciting.
Bryn Griffiths:Brent, let's talk about the hydrogen impact that's being made out of the international airport, because I know that you're excited by what they're doing there.
Brent Lakeman:Yeah. I mean, I've been following the the Edmonton International Airport for over five years now in the hydrogen space alone, and then really, you know, they've been such a leader in that space, you know, going back to, you know, 2021, if not even earlier. And I guess I'm I'm really interested in getting Myron's thoughts on, you know, how was that created? How did we actually, you know, take that leadership role at the airport? What were some of those, you know, really unique conditions about the Edmonton International Airport that allowed it to, you know, begin spending more time looking at hydrogen opportunities perhaps more than any other airport?
Myron Keehn:Sure. Well, I mean, I'll start with... Before we talk about the airport, I need to talk about the region. The fact that the region is such a large global player in hydrogen, and when we bring people here to to look at what's going on in Edmonton, whether they be from Asia or Middle East or Europe or wherever they are, The US people look at, wow. Edmonton is, like, its own...
Myron Keehn:If we're our own city, we'd be the second... Our own country. We'd be the second largest producer of hydrogen in the world, and it's being used everywhere. I mean, we're... It's not new to us.
Myron Keehn:And so the ability to take that use of future fuel, call it now and future fuel, and use the airport real world ecosystem trial it worse, trial it, and drive different outcomes is pretty unique.
Bryn Griffiths:I gotta ask you because I stumbled on something. I think I was flying back from Amsterdam on KLM nonstop, obviously. But I saw that there was this this program that they were doing with a different type of fuel, and it it made me realize that you're involved in a lot of different ways. But it also made me, when I got home, check out the fact and realize that hydrogen was a big one. But I guess the big question I have to ask is when did Yeg decide to get involved with this, and how much has it been growing for you?
Myron Keehn:Yeah. Sure. I mean, I think overall, when you look at our organization, we're here to drive regional economics prosperity in a sustainable way. That's our job. So our board, we've a great board of directors who are really keen on how do we help use the airport as a lever, as a as a tool in our regional economic ecosystem.
Myron Keehn:And so the airport authority has the ability to have a test facility, basically, for lack of any term, in a closed space. The unique thing about us as a West Austin hydrogen is that we're the beginning and end of a lot of the vehicles. So it's easier to trial stuff than have stuff all over the all over the region. And so our board was keen on how do we make sure we are environmentally and socially responsible as well as economically responsible. And hydrogen is a key element to that.
Myron Keehn:I mean, it is the only element I found that crosses over everything that we touch, whether it be sustainable aviation fuel, you mentioned. That flight, half of the input into that SAF was hydrogen. So hydrogen is a key element to make SAF work for for making sure that airplanes could be decarbonized or mean... Impact... Minimize impact.
Myron Keehn:It's key on actually hydrogen fuel cell production. It's key on hydrogen burning burning hydrogen engines. So it is a critical element across all of it. So for us, we looked at the airport holistically. And so what are we in control of?
Myron Keehn:100%. So our ground fleet equipment, our airside equipment, what we could influence are taxis, our car rentals, etcetera, and then all the ground equipment for the airlines, and then how do we partner with our airline partners on things like sustainable aviation fuel. So again, Edmonton is that unique ecosystem that has everything happening here already that with with the right ingredients and the right leadership could drive forward. And I will say, Brent... I'm gonna make Brent blush a little bit.
Myron Keehn:It wouldn't be driven the way it was if it wasn't for Brent and the Hydrogen Hub. Edmonton Global and the Hydrogen Hub were really the two key catalysts to coalesce the region together around this huge opportunity that the world's already seen. And it's how do we make sure we are front and center in that, where it makes sense to be, to drive not only our economy, but help decarbonize the economy as well.
Brent Lakeman:Yeah. Hey, Myron. I appreciate those those kind words. I I I kinda go back to even some of the early actions at the airport several years back by, you know, making the commitment to work with companies like Toyota to bring in the Toyota Mirai. And and now we see these vehicles being used by the premier of Alberta, by the the mayor of Edmonton, and many, many others, obviously, your team at the airport.
Brent Lakeman:You know, I guess, go... Just going back to some of the factors that really allowed that to happen till the airport to position itself as really one of those leading jurisdictions, leading airports, I guess, around North America to to be that early player. When I go out and I I go to events around the world, and then people all know about the Edmonton International Airport. So, you know, what were some of those early steps, I guess, that allowed you to kinda recap yourself in this space and and, you know, you seem to be really the most proactive air force in North America on hydrogen, if not beyond North America.
Myron Keehn:Yeah. I I think one is working with regional partners. So the Hydrogen Hub, Edmonton Global and a group of individuals getting together in the heartland, etcetera, to have a conversation about what is the art of the possible. And then going out internationally with the relations we already had in places like Asia and Europe and The Middle East, and having conversations to say, hey. If you wanna try something, we're an eco...
Myron Keehn:We're a... We need ecosystem. We're a sandbox, You can do it safely. We're never gonna compromise safety and security. It's our our core core value, our number one core value, but utilize the airport in that manner.
Myron Keehn:And so what... It's interesting is when you go around the around the globe, and, Brent, you've seen this, and, Brent, you've seen this as well, people are further excited about hydrogen more than people in North America are. The understanding of what this means from a democratization of energy, from the ability to to propel things in the future, but lower everything from operating costs in the long run, not short run, long run, but also be able to make sure that you're not only able to use one type of fuel is massive. And I think that's why you've seen places around the world jump on it. When I'm sitting in Japan...
Myron Keehn:I've got two kids that live over in Asia. I'm sitting in Japan having a coffee with them at Starbucks on the street side. Half the vehicles are hydrogen. The other half are electric. And then about maybe...
Myron Keehn:I shouldn't say about 45% electric, about 5% are still a combustion engine. Now it doesn't mean the combustion engines go away. They're used in different ways. Yeah. But it's the the transition's already happened.
Myron Keehn:And so we wanna position Edmonton collectively with our partners as that place to come to.
Brent Lakeman:So so there's a really exciting project at the Edmonton International Airport. Think it's perfect for a place like Edmonton. It's cold weather city, lots of snow at different times. So you've got a snow sweep right now that's been converted to run on hydrogen as well as diesel. So the dual fuel technology also, you know, using homegrown Edmonton technologies.
Brent Lakeman:So, again, you kinda talked about the the airport as... I call it a hub within a hub quite often. You we have the the larger Edmonton region, but really this this sandbox that we can do at the Edmonton International Airport. What are your thoughts, I guess, on that that snow sweeper project? Where do we see it going?
Brent Lakeman:We're heading into winter fairly soon here. Yep. Edmonton, is that something that we're gonna see a little more testing on? How do we actually fully derisk these technologies in the airport environment?
Myron Keehn:Yeah. I'll just go back to why why is Edmonton successful. And, you know, that that billboard page on the side of a building downtown that says, take a risk. It's the most Edmonton thing you can do. And and I think we are our own worst critic in in the Edmonton region.
Myron Keehn:When people come from outside, they're like, wow. I can't believe this is happening here. But, again, that happened because of University of Alberta, because of Amy, because of the Hydrogen Hub, and because of the company, Diesel Technologies Inc, and the ability to take that technology and put it onto a streets... A runway sweeper. We use run sweepers all year round.
Myron Keehn:Wintertime for snow, summertime for cleaning the runways. We just use it to get a runway reopened, sweeping off all the dust, etcetera. Runways get swept all the time. And... But there's no technology globally right now that's gonna help decarbonize that, and those are massive diesel.
Myron Keehn:Those things have six engines on them.
Bryn Griffiths:I I gotta ask you that... And we talk about being front and center on the world stage, which I I love. I think that that's great. But how many airports come to you and say, hey. We see you're using Hydrogen.
Bryn Griffiths:How do we get involved in this? Do you get that a lot?
Myron Keehn:Yeah. Great question. Absolutely. We've we've got... We we have airports that are wanting to partner us partner with us on different things.
Myron Keehn:We signed a partnership with Pittsburgh Airport. Christina, the lady who's the CEO there, brilliant, brilliant individual. And I've got a lot a lot of respect for her. They they working really hard to decarbonize the airport. We've signed a partnership agreement to an SNM.
Myron Keehn:Internationally, we got a couple ones we haven't... We're gonna announce them, so they're not yet announced in that regard. But we just hosted the SWIFT conference here in Edmonton, which was... Basically, it's all the airside operations across Canada. They hold two of these conferences in The US, one here and one in Europe.
Myron Keehn:And people all came and got a chance to look at the Street Sweeper, use the Sweeper, ride in it, and now I wanna go, how do I get that technology at my airport? So this is a... When we try these things, we know these are real world opportunities that are gonna result in further economic impact, not only for our region, but globally, but centered right here in Edmonton. And so, taking that risk... Our our risk is small.
Myron Keehn:I mean, converting a sweeper a couple $100,000, it wouldn't for emissions reduction. Alberta came together. The Hydrogen Hub came together, helped us to get some grant funding for that, which is great. So we paid part, and they paid part. But the use of that technology just shows that it works.
Myron Keehn:In my head, it's a a point where that technology, DTI's technology, is gonna end up on all kinds of equipment because there's no one making a electric street sweeper. There's no one making an electric runway sweeper. There's no other fuel other than diesel to run-in them. So having dual fuels greatly reduces the the carbon intensity and the impact, but also the effectiveness of the vehicle because it needs a lot of low end torque power. Hydrogen is great for that.
Brent Lakeman:So so when, Myron, when we look at all these applications, it's not long before we get into a hydrogen conversation, and chickens and eggs always come up. So, you know, when you start to think about what do we need to do to really expand this to to scale up those applications back to supply as well. So how do you look at that at the airport when we need to ensure we've got access to low cost, low carbon hydrogen over time as well so we can continue to demonstrate these technologies. What are some of those unique challenges that the airport might have to be dealing with on the supply side as well?
Myron Keehn:Yeah. I just... It's a great question. I think the biggest challenge we're facing now is just the supply of hydrogen itself, getting it to the purity we need to actually... It will run inside of a fuel cell.
Myron Keehn:There's other technologies like DTIs that you can actually burn the hydrogen. So it's combusted, so it doesn't have to be as as clean. And it's still super clean. It just doesn't be five nines clean. 99.99999%.
Myron Keehn:So getting the supply, sure... Surety supply makes a big difference, and then a network of fuel stations. As we have Car Rental company that wants to actually use Edmonton as their global kickoff for Hydrogen and drive it through their fleets, but we need, you know, say, half a dozen to dozen stations of Edmonton to make that work. And so it's getting that network of fuel stations out, and it is a chicken and egg. You have to spend some money and risk upfront to do that order to actually fulfill the fill the the demand.
Myron Keehn:Yeah. So that's why I think the airports is a critical player because we can have demand that's just stationary. So running to and from the runways, running to and from sweeping sweeping runways, deicing aircraft, using it for fire... For for our firefight equipment, using it for our fleet. Those fleets still leave the airport typically.
Myron Keehn:And then expanding it out into taxis, expanding out to Carl. Those are both those... Taxi company and Carl, the company, are keenly interested in going as soon as we have supply enough supply hydrogen to actually introduce hydrogen car rental and hydrogen taxi. Now, again, they'll be limited. They're not gonna drive from Edmonton to Banff.
Myron Keehn:They're not gonna drive from Edmonton to Jasper. They're gonna stay within Edmonton region because then you have enough capacity to get back to to to one of the fueling stations. But over time, that that worry will go away.
Brent Lakeman:Well... Yeah. And and, obviously, you know, we have some other hydrogen refueling infrastructure in place in Edmonton, not too far from the airport. So you can start to see these things coming together where there's the airport infrastructure, the airport supply. There's other supply that may be available fairly close to Ellerslie Road, for example, where we've got some of the the technologies like Azola with their their hydrogen technology.
Brent Lakeman:I wanna maybe just flip to an area we haven't talked about. I think initially we talked about sustainable aviation fuel, but these new applications... And I think Edmonton International Airport is really, really well positioned around... So we look at drone technologies now for emergency management, for firefighting, for northern security. And what I've been reading about is, you know, battery electric drones will will work up to a certain extent, but as we get into those longer duration drone flights, hydrogen can play a key role.
Brent Lakeman:Maybe not, you know, as as large of a volume as we start to see in other parts of the transportation sector. It's still a very interesting application and one that can, I think, leverage some of that infrastructure you're already developing around the airport? Do do you wanna talk a bit more about that? And I know even some of the partnerships the airport's been establishing with other consortiums around drone or aviation related technologies using hydrogen, whether it's a fuel cell or others.
Myron Keehn:Sure. Absolutely. I think, like like anything, early adoption replaces assumptions as operating evidence. Right? And if you look at drones as an example of that, where when we started using drones a dozen years ago, people were saying you can't use a drone in an airport.
Myron Keehn:You couldn't. You couldn't fly a drone within seven kilometers in an airport. We're flying drones with a 150 feet of a runway. Right? And so you have to build the case to do it and do it safely.
Myron Keehn:The the intention was always to have multiple fuel sources for drones, hydrogen being one of them. We have a partner that, again, I can't... It was not announced yet. Again, it would be good for a future show that has and wants to use the Edmonton Metro Region as its place for long range hydrogen powered flight and drones being one of them, real... And ties it back to military.
Myron Keehn:But, again, can't speak to it yet because it's not not announced, but they've set up an office in Canada and are are gonna use our region to be the one to test that. I think, like, anything utilizing the ecosystem that's here to to slowly tweak and try different activities, when you prove things work, people wanna try something else. As long as you do it in a safe manner, we can do so. So we have... You know, if you look back historically, we started flying drones to do wildlife control and have to prove that to transport Canada and Av Canada, etcetera, and and smash that drone into the ground several times, show them how geofence worked.
Myron Keehn:And now we're doing delivery of... With drones to indigenous owned medical center from the airport, delivering medical goods to to one of our partners. I want to sign up First Nation, which is a great partner. Works with the city of Leduc and Leduc County, great early partners that came out adopted. So this whole thing works as an ecosystem, and I can't...
Myron Keehn:You know, the airport, yes, were an important element of it, but it wasn't for the work that's happened at Edmonton Global. It wasn't really gonna happen at the Hydrogen Hub. It wasn't for the work at Alberta's Industrial Heartland. None of this would be possible. So I don't think...
Myron Keehn:I mean, we're blessed to be able to be the shiny shiny object that people point at, but there's so much work behind the scenes by so many others. We're just able to culminate it all together and and able to launch it. I think for me, if I look future forward in in... If we're sitting here thirty years from now, we're all thirty years younger, of course, because we, you know, we were Benjamin Button in his case, which would be great. You will have hydrogen aircraft running in this country.
Myron Keehn:You'll have hydrogen aircraft running globally for both passengers and cargo. You'll have multiple different types of hydrogen powered drones running around the place. It's the real it's the reality. It's coming.
Bryn Griffiths:Don't wanna get too far ahead on the future part because I think we might have another episode coming on that because the future is very, very exciting. So just kinda sticking with where we're at right now. The other thing I wanted to ask is about the reliability because at the end of the day, while the airport has got a lot of different fact factions, it... It's all about getting the planes landing on time and taking off on time. So how how reliable have you found the the hydrogen effect to be at the international airport?
Myron Keehn:Yeah. We... It... We have not had any significant challenges with the hydrogen applications we launched, whether it be for the hydro... I drive a Hydrogen Mirai, and I drive it in the cold.
Myron Keehn:When it's minus 30, it makes no difference. When it's plus 30, it makes no difference. Actually, it dries better than... It dries better in the winter than the summertime just because I like the the the feeling of the traction control. But there's no no challenge.
Bryn Griffiths:Right.
Myron Keehn:Similar with our snow equipment. Yeah. And we believe in it so much. We not only trans trans... Installed hydrogen equipment on one snow sweeper, we're doing a second one right now.
Myron Keehn:So this is the future. And these transition technologies, I'll call them, are these transformation technologies that are gonna gap the next thirty to fifty years are coming out of our region. Like, that's the coolest part. And it wouldn't happen without the huge AI brains that are in our region. It wouldn't happen without the great engineering that's in our region, and it wouldn't happen without the Hydrogen in our region.
Myron Keehn:So it takes all that combined together, this ecosystem where, in our case, you know, pilots test technology, but ecosystems enable scale. And if we... The more we... The more we have an ecosystem, the more we can scale. So why the work that Brent's been leading to Hydrogen Hub is so important is, like, about getting that scale in our region.
Myron Keehn:And, yeah, the airport can... We're shiny object. We get a lot lot of cool press work. But the fact that the city of Edmonton has a grader running on it and a bus running on it and a sweeper running on it, we went and took a lot of comfort in that before we took a, you know, $2,000,000 piece of equipment at the airport to convert to hydrogen. So they need a lot of credit as well.
Myron Keehn:Do know what mean? It's it's not as sexy as it's running a a a garbage truck on hydrogen, dual fuel, but it is element... It's a it's a key element for us to make that decision.
Brent Lakeman:Well... And and and I think you're bringing up a really important point, Dennis. As we pilot these technologies, what I've been seeing over the past several years is it... It's tough. It's tough work.
Brent Lakeman:It's it's very challenging. You do gotta have the hydrogen available when you got the vehicle ready. The vehicle, you know, has to be functional. So it's really just sequencing everything just right. And, usually, these pilot projects probably take a little bit longer than we think they're going to when we design them at the at the initial stages.
Brent Lakeman:Don't really wanna speak for other other pilot projects, but, you know, they they have taken some time. But I think it's important that we have now, you know, multiple sandboxes where we are demonstrating different types of technologies. We're learning from each other, whether it's the dual fuel systems that are set up at a municipality and an airport and even commercial operators. We can all learn from that. And I think it's that sharing of information that's really important moving forward.
Brent Lakeman:And maybe that brings me to my next question with the the snowsweeper. Are we are we gonna see, you know, that actual, you know, in in, you know, let's say, regular operational conditions fairly soon at the airport, or is it gonna need a little more time still to to prove out that technology?
Myron Keehn:No. You'll you'll see it, actually. We just... So we reopened our runway after being closed since May Yep. And installing a new system.
Myron Keehn:That was one of the five supers cleaning the runway. It was a hydrogen powered sweeper. So we're using it as part of a regular operation. It's not used any different than any other piece of equipment. Obviously, we maintain it is slightly different, but it's in regular operation.
Myron Keehn:So what's critical is to take these technologies... And pilots are great, but a pilot itself doesn't build the ecosystem. And you implant it and use it. So as you mentioned, Brandon, it took us longer to to to convert because we have to make sure everyone understood how it actually worked. We need to make sure that we understood how to fix it.
Myron Keehn:We need to make sure, like... But once that get... Once that knowledge is there, adding the second, third, fourth, fifth one, it's not a big deal. Right? It's like we've done it before.
Myron Keehn:K. Check the box on fire code. Check the box on emergency response. Check the box on maintenance. Check the box on how to fill it.
Myron Keehn:Yeah. We already have it now to go. I remember... We used to have this attitude. I remember getting the first Hydrogen Rai, and and I've driven them in Asia at seven places, and we're...
Myron Keehn:I'm gonna fill it. There's a there's a book, and there's a log, and there's all this stuff you're doing, and and all that. Now I just show up, open the thing. It's like second nature. Right?
Myron Keehn:But when you've never done it before, you you take a lot more time to get it set up properly. And that's what... Where I think we're going collectively. Hydrogen... And again, not to get too much future focus, hydrogen is that energy source that is going to be used everywhere.
Bryn Griffiths:Well, speaking of focusing forward to the future, you wanna hang around, and we'll we'll have another episode coming everybody's way. Myron, I appreciate your time. And, obviously, the president and CEO of the Edmonton International Airport, Myron's gonna join us. Hey, Brent. This is your first one of these cohosting with me.
Bryn Griffiths:Are you okay? You ready to go for a second one?
Brent Lakeman:Great. Yeah. I'm really I'm really excited to keep hearing about all this great work taking place at the airport and how we can learn from this for other parts of our economy.
Bryn Griffiths:Well, that's it for today's episode of Hydrogen two point o. If you're looking to learn more about the Edmonton region's hydrogen economy or maybe more about the Edmonton Region Hydrogen Hub or get in touch with us, you can visit hydrogen.ca or send us an email at hello@hydrogen.ca. Also, free to follow us on LinkedIn, the Edmonton region hydrogen hub, to stay up to date on all of the latest news and all the activities happening in our hydrogen economy.