A pair of new hydrogen locomotive production and refuelling facilities are now open in Calgary and Edmonton.

The facilities — operated by energy producer ATCO EnPower — are located in the rail yards of CPKC, a rail operator formed from a merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern.

The company recently converted some of its diesel locomotives to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

As part of its cleaner energy transition, CPKC made the switch and contracted ATCO EnPower.

“We took it upon ourselves as a partner to supply an electrolyzer which actually takes primarily electricity and water and then generates hydrogen and connects to a small storage area for the hydrogen, and then refueling," Mark Brown, executive vice-president at ATCO EnPower in Calgary, told Sustainable Biz Canada.

"Think of it as a gas stop for the locomotive.”

The facilities include a one-megawatt electrolyzer that also features compression, storage and dispensing systems for the train refuelling at each of the two new facilities.

How a train gets refuelled with hydrogen

“They pull up alongside a refueller area, which is almost like a gas pump. There’s a lot of safety and controls but the connection allows the locomotive fuel tanks, as well as an additional fuel tank, to be loaded with hydrogen, and this hydrogen is then used in the fuel cells by the locomotives over a certain distance and a certain amount of effort that the locomotives go through,” Brown said.

The trains are still in the “testing phase,” with CPKC, he said, but so far the rail operator has found hydrogen power “is comparable to the diesel fuel that they would use in a traditional manner.”

“What they’re using primarily is in their facilities to shuttle the different rail cars around their different switch yards, and so their actual testing that they’re putting into them on what their duration is, how long they can go, and that sort of thing,” Brown said.

While this use is novel, the technology has been around and its usage growth is accelerating, according to Brown.

“There are two or three different types of electrolyzers out there that use a similar type of ideology, where they come in either green or blue. They’ve been around for about 20 years, and their actual industrial use is coming online now. Over the last five years, the biggest use of these has been primarily in Europe and other areas where hydro-supplied electricity has been very prominent, and therefore making it easier to produce.”

Green hydrogen's only byproduct is water vapour. It is produced by splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen, which then powers fuel cells. Blue hydrogen is formed from natural gas, meaning there are some greenhouse gas emissions in its production.

Expanding the use of hydrogen fuel cell technology

Beside its use to power train locomotives, ATCO hopes to deploy the technology in other applications.

“We’ve got the two that are going in for CPKC, and then there are two others that we’re installing. One with our partners at ATCO Gas for blending into residential homes," Brown said. ". . . and then the fourth one we’re using to test out cavern storage in salt caverns in central Alberta."

In order for the technology to succeed, public perception needs to improve, and ATCO is working to “de-stigmatize” hydrogen as a green power source.

“One of the things that we’re working very hard on is making sure that we don’t compare the use of hydrogen as a fuel to some of the tragedies that have occurred in the past. Hydrogen is not a volatile substance, and so the safety side of things is something we just want to continue to educate everyone and make everyone aware,” he said.

“It’s very similar to a natural gas in terms of its usage.”

By partnering with CPKC, ATCO is hoping to prove hydrogen can be relied upon as a viable source of fuel power.

“It allows us to demonstrate to any potential critics that with some resilience and some perseverance, that you can actually move forward with energy transition on a large scale or a small scale,” Brown said.

While fuel costs are higher for CPKC, it is manageable for the company.

“It’s starting to become more comparable to diesel . . . It’s one of those transitionary type situations where we’re confident that over time, it’s going to hold its own from a competitive perspective. Right now, it does come at a premium, but not one that is so extraordinary from diesel that you would be worried about it . . .”