This is a big first. A fleet of fourteen hydrogen trains supplied by the French group Alstom to the region of Lower Saxony (Northern) is now running on a hundred kilometers of track connecting the cities of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoord and Buxtehude, not far from Hamburg. “We are very proud to be able to bring this technology into commercial operation as a world first.Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge welcomed Wednesday.
Cock-a-doodle Doo! Designed in Tarbes, France (South West) and assembled in Salzgitter, Germany (centre), Alstom’s hydrogen trains, christened Coradia iLint, are pioneers in the field. This technology is the preferred way to reduce CO2 emissions and replace diesel, which still powers 20% of rail journeys in Germany. The new fleet, which costs “€93 million”, will avoid producing “4,400 tonnes of CO2 per year”, according to regional grid operator LNVG.
The European train of the future
Commercial tests have been carried out on this line since 2018 with the regular circulation of two hydrogen trains. Other rail connections will follow. Alstom has four contracts for dozens of trains in Germany, France and Italy and sees no slack in demand. Only in Germany “2500 to 3000 diesel trains can be replaced by hydrogen.says Stefan Schrank, project manager at Alstom.
“By 2035, about 15-20% of the regional European market could run on hydrogenRoland Berger rail expert Alexandre Charpentier confirms to AFP. Hydrogen trains are particularly important for small regional lines, where the cost of switching to electrification is too high compared to the profitability of the connection.
They mix hydrogen on board with oxygen in the surrounding air thanks to a fuel cell on the roof. This produces the electricity needed to pull the train. Currently, about one in two regional trains in Europe run on diesel. Alstom’s rivals also entered the race. Germany’s Siemens unveiled a prototype train with Deutsche Bahn last May, with a view to putting it into service from 2024. But, despite these attractive prospects, “there are real obstacles– says the expert. Because not only trains are thirsty for hydrogen. The entire transport sector, road or air, but also heavy industry, particularly steel and chemicals, rely on this technology to reduce their CO2 emissions.
Hydrogen, still a scarce resource
Even if Germany announced an ambitious seven-billion-euro plan in 2020 to become a leader in hydrogen technology within a decade, the infrastructure is still lacking in the country, as in Europe as a whole, for both production and transport, and requires huge investments. . “That’s why we don’t see a 100% replacement of diesel trains with hydrogen“, according to Mr. Charpentier.
Furthermore, hydrogen is not necessarily carbon-free; only “green hydrogen” produced by renewable energy is considered sustainable by experts. There are other production methods, much more common, but they emit greenhouse gases because they are made from fossil fuels.
Proof that the resource is missing. The Lower Saxony line must initially use hydrogen by-products from certain industries, such as chemistry. According to IFP, a French research institute specializing in energy issues, hydrogen is currently “95% from fossil fuel conversion, almost half from natural gas“.
However, Europe is already facing tensions over Russian natural gas supplies amid a standoff with Moscow over the Ukraine war. “Policy decisions must prioritize which sectors will or will not go into hydrogen production“, assesses Mr. Charpentier.
Germany will also have to buy this resource abroad to meet its needs. On Tuesday, Berlin signed a deal with Toronto to massively import renewable hydrogen produced in Canada from 2025.
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Source: Le Figaro
