Canadian Pacific receives $15M grant for hydrogen locomotive program
The program will create a global centre of excellence in hydrogen and freight rail systems in Alberta.
Canadian Pacific (CP) has won a CA$ 15 million grant from Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) for expanding the scope of its pioneering Hydrogen Locomotive Program.
The grant will help Canadian Pacific increase the number of hydrogen locomotive conversions in the project from one to three and add hydrogen production and refuelling facilities.
CP is receiving the 50/50 matching grant from ERA’s Shovel Ready Challenge program. It builds on the $15 million CP already planned to invest in the development project in 2021.
In December 2020, Canadian Pacific announced to design and build North America’s first line-haul hydrogen-powered locomotive using fuel cells and batteries to power its electric traction motors.
Canadian Pacific will use the grant to build upon its early program research to convert an additional line-haul locomotive and a yard switcher locomotive. This work will refine the process of converting diesel-electric powertrains to hydrogen-electric powertrains over a series of three categories of the locomotive.
The project will include the installation of hydrogen production and fuelling facilities at Canadian Pacific railyards in Calgary and Edmonton. The Calgary fueling facility will consist of an electrolysis plant to produce hydrogen using solar water power. The Edmonton facility includes a small-scale steam methane reformation system to generate hydrogen from Alberta’s natural gas resources with potential carbon capture equipment.
The program will generate critical industry knowledge and experience to help in commercialisation and future development.
Keith Creel, CP’s President, said, “In expanding this groundbreaking project, CP is demonstrating its commitment to combatting climate change through transformative technology.”
Steve MacDonald, CEO of Emissions Reduction Alberta, said, “The project will help scale up the technology and bring down the costs of deploying hydrogen to address the critical challenge of decarbonising the long haul, heavy-freight sector.”
