The Canadian arm of Tree Energy Solutions GmbH will invest about US$3 billion to build a green hydrogen plant in Quebec.

The project is being financed privately — 60 per cent by Belgium-based Tree Energy and 40 per cent by a fund controlled by France Chretien-Desmarais, a member of the billionaire Desmarais family and the daughter of former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

The project is expected to produce 70,000 metric tons of hydrogen a year from a site in Shawinigan, about 100 miles north of Montreal, starting in 2028. It will be mostly powered by wind and solar farms to be built nearby.

“The economic spinoffs will be significant for Shawinigan and the Mauricie region, and will position Québec as a leader in decarbonization,” Eric Gauthier, general manager of TES Canada, said in a news release. Gauthier is a former executive at Power Corp. of Canada, the Desmarais family’s publicly traded holding company.

About one-third of the hydrogen will be used for long-haul transportation in Quebec, while the rest will be used to produce so-called “electric renewable natural gas,” or e-NG.

Launched in 2019, Tree Energy Solutions has HSBC Holdings Plc and UniCredit SpA among its investors. It’s also looking at other large-scale projects around the world, including one announced in May in partnership with TotalEnergies SE in the U.S.