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    Railway Operator CPKC and EPC Partner ATCO EnPower Complete Hydrogen Facilities in Canada

    Nov. 22, 2024
    Each of the facilities includes a 1-MW electrolyzer, compression, storage, and dispensing systems for locomotive refuelling. In Calgary, the electrolyzer is powered in part by renewable electricity from CPKC's existing 5 MW solar power facility
    Image credit CPKC Hydrogen Locomotive (CNW Group/CPKC)
    6740c6a5e3b6b634cece2993 Cpkc Atco Enpower And Cpkc Complete Construction O

    Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and ATCO EnPower have completed construction of hydrogen (H2) production and refuelling facilities in Calgary and Edmonton.

    The H2 facilities are now fully operational. CPKC, as part of its Hydrogen Locomotive Program, is retrofitting a number of diesel locomotives with hydrogen fuel cells to help them operate without directly generating emissions.

    Other railways and manufacturers, such as Alstom, are producing H2-powered trains.

    "These fuelling facilities are an important part of advancing the ongoing testing of our hydrogen locomotives and advancing the development of our industry-leading program working toward a lower carbon transportation future," said Kyle Mulligan, CPKC Assistant Vice President, Operations Technology.

    Although the H2 project is initially focused in Canada, CPKC has more than 20,000 miles of railway track throughout North America.

    While ATCO EnPower provided engineering, procurement and construction services for each of the on-site hydrogen locomotive refuelling stations, it has also signed an agreement to operate these facilities.

    Each of the facilities includes a 1-MW electrolyzer, compression, storage, and dispensing systems for locomotive refuelling. In Calgary, the electrolyzer is powered in part by renewable electricity from CPKC's existing 5 MW solar power facility co-located at CPKC's headquarters.

    Hydrogen does not contain carbon in its chain and does not emit CO2 when combusted, but it is not naturally generated and must be produced by either electrolyzers or stream reforming of methane gas, the latter more carbon intensive. Electrolyzers separate hydrogen by splitting the molecule out of water.

    With hydrogen, CPKC aims to create a cleaner, more efficient mode of freight transportation serving as a model for the rail industry with support from ATCO EnPower. Hydrogen is an energy-dense and lighter gas which can help decrease transportation emissions.

    The future of hydrogen is touted across multiple economic and energy sectors. Earlier this year, the National Petroleum Council released a 1,200-page report on low-carbon hydrogen, the result of two years studying the potential of H2 as a market resource.

    Oil giant ExxonMobil is planning a Baytown, Texas project to produce 1 billion cubic feet of H2 per day. The project would use carbon-intensive means of generating hydrogen, but also capture 98% of that associated CO2 and store or repurpose it, according to reports.

     

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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