NTPC's hydrogen locomotive plan
Railway engines running on green hydrogen could soon pull trains transporting coal from mines to NTPC's coal-fired power station at Sipat in Chhattisgarh.
NTPC wants bids by September 16 (2024) in a tender to retrofit an old locomotive or design a new locomotive to use green hydrogen fuel cells, which function like batteries and can be replaced when they've discharged their fuel. On July 8 (2024), NTPC invited offers with an initial July 30 (2024) deadline, later extended.
Whoever wins must carry out the inspection, testing, packing, forwarding, supply of materials, transportation and handling, storage, construction, commissioning and testing. If it chooses the retrofit option, then the selected bidder will be responsible for taking over a 2600-hp diesel-electric locomotive from NTPC's Korba power station, also in Chhattisgarh, and must hand over the converted locomotive at NTPC Sipat.
Whoever wins must operate the locomotive, conduct training for site engineers and ensure 20 years of maintenance for all systems included in the hydrogen locomotive. Each engine must be equipped to pull 42 wagons with a total gross weight of 3800-tonnes.
NTPC has advised prospective bidders that the tentative usable hydrogen storage capacity must be 100-kg stored at 350-bar pressure in 'Type 4' or high-pressure and lightweight cylinders. They must complete a trial run at Sipat and achieve the prototype operation certification within 18 months from the award date.
NTPC is also planning to run five green hydrogen-fired buses at Leh in Kashmir after successful trial runs, which began in August 2023, and another five buses in Delhi by the end of this year (2024).