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The “H2goesRail” project is being funded as part of the National Innovation Program for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW GmbH) with €13.74 million by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV). The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by project lead Jülich.

“In its coalition agreement, the federal government agreed to electrify 75% of the country’s rail network by 2030,” said Michael Theurer, Parliamentary State Secretary in the BMDV. “Here, alternative drives can help reduce emissions from diesel rail transport. This way, we’ll be able to operate virtually climate-neutral on rail routes where full electrification is not possible. The H2goesRail project will not only test the use of hydrogen for rail, but substantially advance the technology.”

To summarize, this paper  has shown, first, that hydrogen is certainly an acceptable, very clean fuel.  Second, it has shown that it can be used at low levels in existing fielded systems, and some low NOx gas turbines exist in the field today that can operate with H2 levels of up to 50% , cofired with natural gas.  Furthermore, systems have been developed to operate with pure hydrogen.  The key development challenge for the future is low NOx, fuel flexible systems, that can be readily operated with a range of fuel compositions, ranging from pure H2 to pure natural gas. Figure 3 below summarizes the hydrogen readiness, R&D needs, and NOx compliance of these various technologies.  All of these will enable the combustion technology of the future — low NOx, wide operability range, fuel flexible combustion systems capable of operating up to 100% hydrogen.

Loop Energy in Burnaby has had a big growth spurt, adding 60 workers to its Production Way facility in a year to push the employee total to 100.

Now it’s announced that it has been awarded $9.75 million over three years from the Government of Canada through Pacific Economic Development Canada’s (PacifiCan) Jobs and Growth Fund.

The TFCM2-F-60 is a second generation flat-type module that produces 60kW power and can be easily integrated into the roof of the bus, alongside the battery and hydrogen tanks. A major benefit of Toyota’s fuel cell technology is that the range of the all-electric bus can be extended in urban traffic to around 400km for the solo bus and up to 350km for the articulated version of the bus. The combination of the battery and the fuel cell as a range extender eliminates the need for intermediate charging on-the-go.

The IPCC highlights low-emission hydrogen as one of the key technologies that the world must urgently invest in to address the effects of climate change. It also underlines the critical importance of cutting emissions in sectors that aren’t easily electrified, such as industrial manufacturing and related processes. "This sector accounts for about a quarter of global emissions,” the report says. "Achieving net zero will be challenging and will require new production processes, low and zero emissions electricity, hydrogen, and, where necessary, carbon capture and storage.”

In a new study published in Nature Communications, the researchers report that reversible fuel cells can be an economically viable source of backup electricity during periods of surging prices, such as Texas experienced in 2021 when winter storms knocked out power plants fueled by natural gas. By being able to switch directions, the study finds, the entire system can run closer to full capacity. That reduces the cost of producing both carbon-free hydrogen and carbon-free electricity.