Transit nears hydrogen fuel equipment contract with Alberta company

The City of Winnipeg is expected to award contracts totalling $14.2 million to provide initial fuelling infrastructure, as Winnipeg Transit embarks on its transition to zero-emission buses.

City staff is recommending council (during its May 7 meeting) award an $8.7-million contract for hydrogen production equipment to a Red Deer, Alta., startup called Azolla Hydrogen Ltd.

The company is only three years old. The potential Winnipeg deal, as well as a couple of small units awarded to Edmonton Transit System last week, are effectively its first commercial contracts.

Azolla is one of a tiny number of companies ready to ship technology that uses methanol as the feedstock to generate hydrogen. There were two other bids on the tender; both came in around $13 million

“We had only heard about two of the three companies going into the bid. It is relatively new technology,” Erin Cooke, project manager for Transit’s Transition to Zero-Emission Bus Program, said Thursday.

The hydrogen fuel station will be installed in a temporary parking area at the 421 Osborne St. garage.

The other contract — $5.5 million for nine direct current, fast charging stations and backend equipment to support up to 18 chargers — will be built at Transit’s 600 Brandon Ave. garage.

That contract, which council is also expected to approve Tuesday, is being awarded to Winnipeg firm McCaine Electric Ltd.

In November 2022, the city approved a $33-million contract with hometown NFI Inc. for eight battery electric and eight fuel cell buses.

Most of the funding for the buses and the $14.2-million worth of fuelling infrastructure is coming from the federal government’s Investing in Canada infrastructure Program.

Cooke expects to receive the buses by mid-December. With council approval, Azolla’s hydrogen fuel station is to be fully commissioned by June 2025.

She said plans to access an interim hydrogen fuel supply are being ironed out, although only minimal amounts will be required before Azolla’s equipment is installed, as staff will be trained on operation of the vehicles with NFI staff.

“It has been a long journey,” said Cooke. “It will be nice to finally start to see things arrive.”

Hydrogen fuel is expected to play a large role in the decarbonization of the world economy, but the technology is still at its early stages.

Azolla’s website claims hydrogen fuel produced from its methanol-based technology will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 69 per cent compared to gasoline, 45 per cent compared to diesel and 25 per cent compared to conventional hydrogen sources.

Cooke said Winnipeg Transit will piggyback on a City of Winnipeg methanol procurement contract already in place to acquire the methanol needed for the hydrogen generation.

Jack Winram, executive director of the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association, believes it is good planning on the city’s part to use this kind of technology to initiate Transit’s zero-emission fleet.

“It’s a good incremental step,” he said. “They can get some experience and build the infrastructure and be ready for the next phase.”

The Azolla unit is designed to produced about 450 kilograms of hydrogen per day. Cooke estimates the eight fuel cell buses on order would need about 200 kg daily.

Although the funding agreement from ICIP does not allow Winnipeg Transit to sell the excess supply, she said the long-term plan is to eventually, over time, acquire an additional 22 fuel cell buses and 62 battery electric buses.

Winnipeg’s first tranche of 16 zero-emission buses include four 60-foot fuel cell and four 60-foot battery electric. They will be the first 60-foot electric buses in Canada.

In Red Deer, Jared Sayers, CEO of Azolla, said the company is ramping up. He said it has a growing order book and is looking to supply other transit authorities.

“We’re on a very steep growth rate right now,” he said Thursday. “We’re look forward to filling that pipeline.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca