CHFCA Board of Directors Elect New Chair and Vice-Chair

Vancouver, BC—The Board of Directors of the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association is pleased to announce the election of a new Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board at its regular meeting on May 21, 2019.

Elected to the position of Chairman is Robert Artibise, Director of Engineering at OverDrive Fuel Cell Engineering, a Canadian firm which designs, develops and protoypes electrochemical devices in collaboration with clients.  Robert has a proven track record taking products from concept into production, and is responsible for OverDrive’s overall engineering process and the design output for all cell and stack components. Rob has worked with PEM fuel cells for more than 20 years and is an experienced design-and-release engineer with expertise in thermo-dynamics, heat and mass transfer (fluid dynamics), and the mechanics of materials.

Elected to the position of Vice-Chairman is Dr. Francois Girard, a Research Council Officer for the National Research Council Canada. He is the technical leader for Fuel Cell and Electrochemical Systems for the Vehicle Propulsion Technologies Program as well as Canada’s representative for Mission Innovation’s Hydrogen Challenge.

Canada is a global leader in fuel cell and hydrogen technology, and Canadian companies are experiencing a record year, with major bus and train fuel cell set sales to China, the United States and Europe, as well as strong sales of new Power to Gas technology, which involve utilizing surplus, off-peak wind and solar power and storing the energy as hydrogen for use when power demand is peaking.

Canada has roughly 2,000 high-income, clean technology jobs in the H2 sector, and our companies generate approximately $200 million in annual revenue, with exports contributing a significant portion.