Canadian Pacific’s hydrogen retrofit program is gaining steam after the company ordered up a dozen new fuel cell engines for local freight service in Alberta.Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems reported on Monday it will deliver the 200-kilowatt motors by the end of the year and the locomotives are expected to come into service in 2024.The additional locomotives will be partially funded through an Emissions Reduction Alberta program that supports the decarbonization of rail transport by funding hydrogen production and refuelling infrastructure along with hydrogen-powered locomotives, the companies said in a statement..Over the past two years, Ballard has supplied the CPKC transnational rail network with 38 fuel cell engines for use in its hydrogen locomotives, with combined fuel cell power of 7.6 megawatts. Similar to an AC diesel electric, the fuel cell generates electricity to onboard batteries. Unlike diesels, it generates water vapour as exhaust."Our hydrogen locomotive program demonstrates our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and we are pleased to continue to work with the team at Ballard to implement effective alternative fuel solutions," said Dr. Kyle Mulligan, CP’s vice-president of operations technology.It’s a sign that Canada’s preeminent rail carrier is moving to scale up its hydrogen powered fleet, using hydrogen produced at its Ogden rail yard in Calgary. It also has a production facility in Edmonton.The actual conversions are performed at Bilton Welding in Innisfail, about 100 kilometres north of Calgary..In August, the UCP government offered up $45 million to develop new hydrogen technologies using funds generated from Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund — essentially its industrial carbon tax.To date, ERA has poured more than $60 million from the TIER fund into hydrogen technologies across the value chain, including a net-zero production complex, hydrogen-powered transit buses and Canadian Pacific’s hydrogen locomotives — North America’s first line-haul units using fuel cells and batteries for power.Earlier this summer the first of the 6,000-horsepower hydrogen drivers went into testing to haul metallurgical coal from Teck Resource’s mines in southern British Columbia through the Rockies to Vancouver.Canadian Pacific is also planning to introduce hydrogen locomotives via its Kansas City subsidiary in West Virginia.
Canadian Pacific’s hydrogen retrofit program is gaining steam after the company ordered up a dozen new fuel cell engines for local freight service in Alberta.Vancouver-based Ballard Power Systems reported on Monday it will deliver the 200-kilowatt motors by the end of the year and the locomotives are expected to come into service in 2024.The additional locomotives will be partially funded through an Emissions Reduction Alberta program that supports the decarbonization of rail transport by funding hydrogen production and refuelling infrastructure along with hydrogen-powered locomotives, the companies said in a statement..Over the past two years, Ballard has supplied the CPKC transnational rail network with 38 fuel cell engines for use in its hydrogen locomotives, with combined fuel cell power of 7.6 megawatts. Similar to an AC diesel electric, the fuel cell generates electricity to onboard batteries. Unlike diesels, it generates water vapour as exhaust."Our hydrogen locomotive program demonstrates our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and we are pleased to continue to work with the team at Ballard to implement effective alternative fuel solutions," said Dr. Kyle Mulligan, CP’s vice-president of operations technology.It’s a sign that Canada’s preeminent rail carrier is moving to scale up its hydrogen powered fleet, using hydrogen produced at its Ogden rail yard in Calgary. It also has a production facility in Edmonton.The actual conversions are performed at Bilton Welding in Innisfail, about 100 kilometres north of Calgary..In August, the UCP government offered up $45 million to develop new hydrogen technologies using funds generated from Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund — essentially its industrial carbon tax.To date, ERA has poured more than $60 million from the TIER fund into hydrogen technologies across the value chain, including a net-zero production complex, hydrogen-powered transit buses and Canadian Pacific’s hydrogen locomotives — North America’s first line-haul units using fuel cells and batteries for power.Earlier this summer the first of the 6,000-horsepower hydrogen drivers went into testing to haul metallurgical coal from Teck Resource’s mines in southern British Columbia through the Rockies to Vancouver.Canadian Pacific is also planning to introduce hydrogen locomotives via its Kansas City subsidiary in West Virginia.
