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From a hydrogen hub to mass timber prefab homes, the heart of B.C. is on the lookout for the next economic wave
Located in the geographic centre of British Columbia, the Cariboo has been the locus of several key phases of the province’s economic history: the fur trade, the Cariboo gold rush, the coming of railroads and highways, the rise of the forest and hydro-electric industries. Today, it’s making a strong case to lead the way in the energy transition.
Various partners are working towards making the regional capital of Prince George a hydrogen hub. Already, Hydra Energy is building what it calls the world’s largest hydrogen refuelling station and green production facility in the city, part of a “hydrogen corridor” stretching from Edmonton to the Pacific Coast for low-emission truck transportation.
The McLeod Lake Indian Band, meanwhile, entered into a partnership last year aiming to build what could be Canada’s largest hydrogen project on the Kerry Lake East reserve about 80 kilometres north of Prince George. The $5-billion Tse’khene Energy Transition Hub would produce both “green” and “blue” hydrogen from renewable sources as well as from natural gas. Emissions from the project would be stored underground.
More recently, Australian green energy and metals company Fortescue has proposed building a $2-billion, 1,000-megawatt green hydrogen and ammonia facility at the city’s Willow Cale Industrial Park. Fortescue founder and executive chair Andrew Forrest cited the abundance of emissions-free hydro power, fresh water and transportation links for locating the plant in the Cariboo. Another partner in the project is the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, which signed a memorandum of understanding with Fortescue in 2021.
And there’s more to the Cariboo’s clean energy push than hydrogen. In 2023, Calgary-based Tidewater Renewables started up the first stand-alone biodiesel refinery in Canada in Prince George. The $430-million plant has the capacity to produce 170 million litres of diesel fuel per year from renewable feedstock including canola oil, tallow, used cooking oil and tall oil.
Even remote parts of the Cariboo are making strides with clean energy. The Ulkatcho First Nation, based near Anahim Lake, obtained $16 million in federal and provincial funding this year to build what will be the largest off-grid solar energy array in Canada. The project will help wean the isolated community off diesel generation.
A plan by Alberta-based, Chinese-owned JX LNG Canada shows there’s still interest in liquefied natural gas infrastructure. The company seeks to build a plant in Prince George that would produce 2.7 million tonnes of LNG per year and ship it by rail in containers to Prince Rupert for export to Asia. Powered by clean electricity, the liquefaction plant would be among the lowest-emission LNG producers around.
The Cariboo’s mining sector has been on the upswing too. Artemis Gold is putting the finishing touches on its Blackwater mine, which expects to pour its first gold before the end of 2024. Osisko Development, meanwhile, has completed an environmental review of the Cariboo Gold project east of Quesnel and hopes to be operational on a similar timeline. At the Gibraltar Mine near Williams Lake—the largest private employer in the region—owner Taseko Mines recently reached an agreement with workers that should ensure labour peace for at least three years. Looking further into the future, Vitreo Minerals has proposed a $300-million quarry north of Prince George for producing frac sand to be used in natural gas extraction in Northeast B.C.
Once forest-dependent communities that have suffered from declines in the timber supply have in several cases learned to persevere. On the site of a former sawmill in Williams Lake, Massive Canada Building Systems is developing a $75-million modular building factory using mass timber. The project is benefiting from up to $10 million in assistance from the B.C. Manufacturing Jobs Fund.
Beginning in 2010, the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George and the villages of McBride and Valemount collaborated to attract new agri-food, forestry, tourism and professional businesses with Invest Robson Valley Region, a digital campaign that this year was honoured with the Marketing Innovation Award (community less than 20,000 population) by the BCEDA.
“While it can be challenging to quantify the success of programs like this, I can tell you that McBride had 10 empty storefronts along our five-block Main Street prior to the pandemic and nine were filled between 2020 and 2024,” says Karen Dubé, McBride’s economic development officer.
Cariboo: Pioneer Spirit
Mainland-Southwest: Ripple Effect
Vancouver Island: Welcoming Shores
Thompson-Okanagan: Urban Makeover
Kootenay: Hidden Gem
North Coast-Nechako: Sea Change
Northeast: A New Energy Era
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