Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 24, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 13 WORCESTER • FRAMINGHAM • MILFORD • HYANNIS Growing a successful business isn't easy. There are plenty of turns, pivots and restarts along the way. With S&G's knowledge, technical expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and experience behind you, you'll have the tools, resources and services to help you succeed. • Accounting & Tax Services • Business Consulting • Business Transition • Financial Services • Investment Management • Retirement Planning 508-757-3311 www.sgllp.com SUCCESS ISN'T A STRAIGHT LINE. We'll be here to support you along every twist and turn. F O C U S and research. Bloomberg reported in May that Chinese transit systems now run 421,000 hydrogen buses. Agen Environmental wants to be ready for what it says is the inevitable expansion into the Northeast Corridor. "When it comes to the Northeast, Agen will be front and center," LaVoie said. Adoption elsewhere Even if few passenger vehicles run on hydrogen today, commercial firms are increasingly using it for buses and trucks. Nikola Motor Co, a major player in the hydrogen and clean-energy trucking industry, is building a hydrogen truck plant in Arizona aer getting a backlog in orders of 13,000 hydrogen vehicles. e company says it plans 700 hydrogen truck fueling stations by 2028. Anheuser-Busch said last year it's ordering 800 hy- drogen trucks, and the shipping company DHL said in May it'll order 100 trucks by next year. Both Amazon and Walmart have worked with the New York firm Plug Power to install hydrogen technology in their warehouses. e Federal Transit Administration is supporting the industry through $55 million in grants each year to state and local governments to use zero-emission or low-emission buses, including hydrogen. e Massachusetts Clean Energy Center has given $586,000 in grants to four companies to help develop hydrogen fueling technology, including to Ivys Energy Solutions of Waltham to build a dual hydrogen and battery electric car charging station. e MBTA began testing a hydrogen-fueled bus in 2016, but it's no longer in service. ere aren't any plans to begin using a hydrogen fleet, the transit agency said. Some private-industry companies in Massachusetts have switched over to hydrogen vehicles, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, including the distribut- ing company Sysco, which uses hydrogen for 230 of its forklis, and Martignetti Companies, a wine and spirits distributor using the fuel for 39 forklis. Nationally, major corporations are now using stationary hydrogen power systems for primary and backup power, according to the Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Energy Association, including Apple, eBay, Google and Microso. Sirokman said wider adoption of hydrogen isn't a matter of technology or prices. "It's a matter of political will," he said, portraying the issue as a question of whether society will choose to invest in a cleaner energy. "e cost is not the prohibi- tive part." Agen Environmental is in the process of acquiring two upstate New York biomass power plants to create clean hydrogen power. W

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