Two hydrogen-fuelled trucks will hit the roads of Sturgeon County as early as next spring, the county’s mayor and interim CAO say.
About 70 people crowded into the Beyond the Meridian venue (a converted barn) just west of St. Albert on Villeneuve Road Oct. 3 for the 2024 State of the County Address and open house. Guests got to sample treats produced by Sturgeon County farmers, talk with county staff, and hear Mayor Alanna Hnatiw speak.
Hnatiw (who was not available for an interview) spent most of her address reflecting on the county’s progress in her seven years as mayor.
Looking back
“Over the seven years I have been representing county council, Sturgeon County has weathered challenges and celebrated triumphs,” she said.
The look and feel of Sturgeon has also changed, with some 1,500 hectares annexed by St. Albert in 2022 and substantial development in the Sturgeon Valley region, she continued. House prices in the Sturgeon Valley now averaged $850,000, while the cost of a quarter section of farmland was now over a million dollars.
“That is not attainable for most,” Hnatiw said.
Hnatiw said county council has nonetheless worked to stretch its tax dollars, requiring a mere four per cent tax hike in the last eight years and chopping $7.3 million off its debt last year. It has also signed seven regional recreation cost-sharing agreements with its neighbours, invested millions in roads, bridges, trails, water, and broadband, and brought in smart water meters and online payment systems.
Hnatiw noted how the new ALUS Sturgeon program has helped farmers restore wetlands to boost biodiversity, while the Clean Energy Improvement Program has aided those looking to make their residential and commercial properties more efficient. Solar panels atop the Namao Fire Hall now provide 90 per cent of the hall’s electricity, and, when combined with other efficiency efforts, have helped county administration cut its building-related electricity costs by about 75 per cent.
Hydrogen ahead
Hnatiw said the county has been a leader in clean energy and at the Edmonton Region Hydrogen Hub, which would take on a new form next year. The county was also set to convert two of its gravel trucks to run partially off hydrogen next year, which could reduce their fuel use by 30 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent.
St. Albert resident Travis Peter, who became Sturgeon County’s interim CAO on Oct. 1 following the departure of Reegan McCullough (who stepped down on Sept. 30 to become CAO of Rocky View County), said the truck project was an experiment to see how well hydrogen worked as a fuel for small-scale vehicles.
“We see hydrogen as a way to decarbonize our fuel sources,” Peter said, and to develop the region’s hydrogen economy.
Peter said the trucks will likely be converted to run on a half-hydrogen, half-diesel mix next spring during their regularly scheduled maintenance.
Visit www.sturgeoncounty.ca/event/mayors-state-of-the-county-address-and-open-house for a video of the State of the County address.