Market Watch: Canadian clean hydrogen company powered by new investment

General Market Commentary

 The global economy has remained resilient despite the significant uncertainty posed by tariffs, according to the Bank of Canada. The Governing Council has stated that Canada’s economic growth in the first quarter was slightly stronger than anticipated, with the composition of growth largely as expected. Exports and inventory accumulation both contributed strongly to growth as businesses sought to get ahead of the tariffs. Consumer spending and business investment had also contributed to growth, even in the face of considerable angst about U.S. trade policy.

The market expectation is that the Bank of Canada rate will remain the same for the rest of the year. Changes to the base rate are unexpected for the next six months.

With regard to the environment and clean energy sector, there is a significant amount of support federally and provincially to green the grid and become a world leader in clean energy exports.

For instance, in British Columbia, BC Hydro has launched two requests for expressions of interest (RFEOI) to explore the next era of the province’s power potential, expand clean-energy resources and advance energy efficiency.

“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead the world in clean energy and we’re acting with urgency to make sure every British Columbian benefits,” said Adrian Dix, B.C.’s Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions. “By expanding our clean-power supply and increasing energy efficiency, we’re securing our power grid, building a resilient electricity system and creating sustainable jobs that drive economic growth.”

Hot Sector News

This month we’re circling back to Next Hydrogen Solutions Inc. (TSXV:NXH), a Mississauga, Ont.-based designer and manufacturer of electrolyzers for green hydrogen production. We covered this innovative company in the August 2023 edition.

Founded in 2007, Next Hydrogen is leading the way to generate clean hydrogen for use as an energy source or an industrial feedstock. The company’s unique cell design architecture enables high current density operation and reliable response to efficiently convert intermittent renewable electricity into green hydrogen.

Following successful pilots, Next Hydrogen is scaling up its technology to deliver commercial solutions to decarbonize transportation and industrial sectors. The company has received support from strategic partners in this emerging sector as well as the federal government.

Most recently, Next Hydrogen announced it has received $5 million working capital debt support from Export Development Canada (EDC).

“We are grateful for this very meaningful support from EDC to help support our growth opportunities. We have a world class electrolyser design with a revolutionary cell architecture which enables highly efficient, large scale and low-cost green hydrogen production,” said Raveel Afzaal, President & CEO of Next Hydrogen. “With 75 per cent of the world GDP having policies to grow the hydrogen economy, EDC is providing us with the opportunity to make a global impact to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors.”

“EDC is thrilled to support Next Hydrogen’s ambitions for large scale adoption of green hydrogen solutions,” said Tushar Handiekar, group head and VP, Structured and Project Finance at EDC. “The deployment of its innovative electrolyser, combined with Next Hydrogen’s technical expertise and global partnerships can position the company as leader of Canadian innovation on the global stage, and EDC views this as the beginning of an important strategic relationship.”

At this year’s  Canadian Hydrogen Convention, Next Hydrogen CEO Raveel Afzaal presented on a panel with representatives from Edmonton International Airport, H2CanFly, and the National Research Council of Canada to discuss how hydrogen can help decarbonize aviation. Credit: Next Hydrogen.

In March 2025, Next Hydrogen partnered with a leading hydrogen production system manufacturer with an existing gigawatt scale manufacturing facility to accelerate the scale-up and commercialization of its water electrolysis technology. This partnership provides Next Hydrogen with world-leading manufacturing capacity and competitively positions it to bid on large-scale projects globally starting in 2026.

Following the presentation of Q1 financial results, Afzaal commented on the company’s potential: “The value proposition offered by our unique water electrolyzers is clear and well supported by over 40,000 hours of data. This has resulted in partnerships with blue chip industry partners such as Casale, GE Vernova and Pratt & Whitney.”

The focus for 2025 is as follows:

1. Scale up the product line up to 8MW.
2. Demonstrate a strong execution pathway for large volume manufacturing.
3. Show further and significant growth in the sales backlog.

How is the company fairing so far this year? “We are executing well on all three of these goals which should unlock long-term funding solutions for Next Hydrogen,” says Afzaal.

Stocks to Watch

Here is a list of Canadian cleantech stocks that we are monitoring for this column so far. We are open to suggestions from our advisors and readers.

*The authors of this column own equity. It is not meant to be an endorsement, but simply a statement of this fact.

James Sbrolla is a veteran of the financial and environmental industries.

Connie Vitello is editor of Environment Journal.

Featured image credit: Getty Images