Burnaby-based Ballard Power Systems says it is expanding into on-site hydrogen power generation after its August acquisition of GeoPura.
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Ballard Power Systems Inc., based in Burnaby, says it is pursuing new markets for hydrogen-powered generators as businesses look for alternatives to diesel—an effort tied to its August acquisition of U.K.-based GeoPura.
Ballard said the $513-million acquisition marks a shift beyond its fuel-cell manufacturing, adding stationary power generation to its business and creating what the company described as an “energy-as-a-service” approach.
Ballard CEO Marty Neese said the company will “sell products” and “sell energy,” and described the opportunity as spanning markets in the United States and Canada, including festivals and film and television production.
Ballard said GeoPura hydrogen power units (HPUs), equipped with Ballard fuel cells, were used to supply electricity at live entertainment events in the United Kingdom, including the Isle of Wight music festival.
Neese said GeoPura’s HPUs can already compete with diesel generators on operating costs, adding that further reductions are expected as production ramps up.
GeoPura founder Andrew Cunningham—now president of Ballard—said the move is driven by businesses’ reliance on diesel generators when grid power is limited or insufficient, pointing to the large installed base of diesel generators globally.
Cunningham said construction projects may need several diesel generators to ensure backup capacity if a unit fails, and he argued that businesses “cannot happen unless we replace that with something clean and reliable.”
Ballard said the company plans a disciplined approach to expanding beyond the U.K., where it said hydrogen production, distribution, and its customer base are currently located. It also identified select European markets—Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain—as targets.
The company also described grid constraints as a factor in its planning in Metro Vancouver, saying one building under consideration lacked sufficient electrical capacity and that obtaining additional grid capacity was estimated to take five to seven years.
Neese said the company sees demand in sectors facing constrained access to electricity, including data centres and distribution centres, where additional power requirements are increasingly tied to technologies such as robotics and high-performance computing.
He also said hydrogen could help businesses bridge power shortages while waiting for the grid to catch up, including by powering hydrogen power units in the interim.
Cunningham said he expects smaller data centres requiring 10 to 20 megawatts to be a fit for GeoPura’s systems, because “folks, unfortunately, can very rarely get the power they need” in their neighbourhood when building new facilities.
Ballard said it is also looking at applications beyond commercial and industrial sites, including potential uses with military installations and EV charging infrastructure where energy resilience and backup capacity are needed.
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