âIn the last couple of years, and particularly last year, Iâve seen the greatest interest Iâve seen in hydrogen for two decades,â said Alan Lloyd, a senior research fellow at the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. âWhy is that? I think the major reason is the recognition from major companies now that if theyâre going toâŠ
âBy 2022, there will be 41 of these types of trains powered by Cummins fuel cells running in Europe, making Cummins the leading provider of fuel cells for trains globally,â Linebarger said. âWe are in active conversations with OEMs and end users about how to utilize, both our PEM and solid oxide fuel cells in a variety applications, including trainsâŠ
$3 million to Cummins for PEM fuel cell systems for heavy-duty applications; $3 million to Plug Power for domestically manufactured fuel cells for heavy-duty applications; $4 million to the University of California, Irvine, for solid oxide electrolysis cells integrated with direct reduced iron plants for the production of green steel; $8 million to Hornblower Yachts for a marine hydrogen demonstrationâŠ
âI think the most important thing is that we need to begin to build regional scale centers where we can begin to deploy these technologies in a serious way,â [Cummins CEO] Linebarger said. âDeployment for storage, renewable storage, deployment for transportation and deployment for industry. I think Southern California is a good example but we need more of those placesâŠ