2023-08-25 01:47:35
The first green hydrogen train in circulation on the continent may stop in Baie-Saint-Paul, but its ambitions travel far beyond Charlevoix.
On board are also the hopes of an industry still in its infancy in Quebec, but convinced that green hydrogen is one of the keys to a carbon-free future. Will the little train go far? Many dream of seeing him set off to conquer America.
Since its commissioning on June 17, the train that travels the 100 kilometers between Quebec City and Baie-Saint-Paul has welcomed curious people attracted by the feeling of entering the world of tomorrow.
“It’s a train that leaves no carbon footprint: all that escapes is water vapour,” explains Nancy Belley, general manager of Chemin de fer Charlevoix, the private company that manages the locomotive between the capital and Baie-Saint-Paul. “People, taking their place on board, have the impression of being a part of history. »
Propelled by green hydrogen, Alstom’s Coradia iLint train swallows the kilometers between river and mountains, in the middle of the rich reservoir of Charlevoix landscapes. It is here, in this region renowned for its terroir and its craftsmen, that the continent’s rail future may be taking shape.
“During the week, whenever the train is running, continues Nancy Belley, there are delegations from all over the world who come to see that it works, a hydrogen train. »
Sign of the interest aroused by this unique locomotive in America: the CEO of Amtrak, the American company which puts more than 300 trains into circulation daily on a network of more than 33,000 kilometers, must make the trip to the next days.
“The enthusiasm is really there, and so are the needs,” underlines Olivier Marcil, vice-president of public affairs at Alstom Canada. In North America, the railway network extends over 300,000 kilometers, but less than 1% is electrified. Everything still runs on diesel. America, for us, represents enormous potential. »
Greening transport
Direct electrification like that of the REM in Montreal, with catenaries and power cables, remains the most reliable way to electrify trains. On the other hand, in sparsely populated regions, it makes little economic sense to deploy a power line solely to supply a railway line. For airplanes and ships, electrical refueling is also impossible over very long distances. It is in such cases that green hydrogen might play a major role in the ecological transition of transport.
“It’s one of the solutions,” said Michel Archambault, co-founder of Hydrogène Québec, a new industrial alliance inaugurated on Tuesday and chaired by former Stephen Harper minister Steven Blaney. “Green hydrogen is not the one and only response to the climate emergency, but it is one of the avenues to be explored to achieve decarbonization of our economies. »
Currently, the planet consumes approximately 100 million tonnes of hydrogen annually, mostly used to produce ammonia and refined petroleum. Of this amount, less than 1% is green, that is, made using renewable energy. The rest uses fossil fuels, to the point where hydrogen production alone releases 500 million tonnes of CO each year.2 into the atmosphere, or 1% of annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Quebec, with its hydropower, but also solar and wind electricity production potential, has everything it needs to plant its flag in the green hydrogen market that is set to emerge, according to Yvan Cliche, energy specialist at the Center d’études et of international research from the University of Montreal (CERIUM).
“We are on the eve of an industrial revolution,” says the expert. Quebec finds itself at a pivotal, historic moment. Global competition is already shaping up to be fierce: the United States, through the colossal Inflation Reduction Act, is offering very powerful tax incentives to develop its green hydrogen.
Nearly forty states around the world have also implemented their own strategy with regard to hydrogen, including Canada and Quebec, but also oil-producing countries with more dubious environmental virtues, such as Arabia Saudi Arabia or Qatar, which see in blue hydrogen — produced with fossil gas whose emissions are captured on the production site, using expensive processes — a lifeline for their resources in a world in full transition. Note that Canada is also pushing blue hydrogen to support the fossil gas industry in the West.
An ambition strewn with pitfalls
One of the main obstacles to the emergence of green hydrogen is its price. The Charlevoix train consumes 50 kilos a day, supplied by the Quebec company Harnois Énergies from Quebec. Each kilo of this green hydrogen costs $17.50, a price out of all proportion to the cost of so-called “grey” hydrogen, made with fossil gas (whose emissions are not captured). Indeed, its value, in American currency, fluctuates between $1 and $3, according to the Bloomberg NEF, a center for studies on the technologies of tomorrow.
However, the situation might change, and more quickly than we think, according to Bruno Pollet, co-director of the Hydrogen Research Institute (ITH) at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR). “We are at the foot of a curve which promises to be exponential, believes the world authority. Within the next 10 years, I think that we will have renewable hydrogen that is really more interesting than other hydrogens, and at a cost, above all, that is really more competitive. »
The technology, further believes Professor Pollet, will also make electrolysers, the device needed to break down hydrogen, much less energy-intensive and expensive. “Right now, it takes 55 kW/h of electricity to produce one kilo of hydrogen. By 2030, he estimates, we’ll be at 35kWh — a drop of almost 40%. »
Even less energy-intensive, the production of green hydrogen will require a very significant increase in the production of electricity or renewable gas to meet demand, warns Bruno Pollet.
“People will have to be taught the gain this represents for the planet. If we build dams or wind turbines to produce more electricity, in the end it will give us the capacity to have green hydrogen which will make it possible to manufacture zero carbon steel, to move trains without diesel or to bring electricity to remote areas. That’s it, the end game : it is for our children that we must do all this. »
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