By
Rebecca Gibson |
UK shipyard Ferguson Marine Engineering has successfully secured funding from the European Union (EU) to build and launch the world’s first hydrogen-powered ocean-going passenger and car ferry.
Codenamed HySeas III, the new €12.6 million (US$14.7 million) ferry project was first initiated in 2012 by Jim Anderson, director of vessels for Scottish ferry operator Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, and Martin Smith, project manager and senior researcher at the University of St Andrews who has previously played a leading role in introducing hydrogen-powered buses in Scotland.
Thanks to support from Scottish Enterprise, the HySeas III initiative moved from the initial feasibility studies stage and the consortium of private and public sector companies that will be designing and building the vessel has now received €9.3 million from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation fund.
“This is a very exciting stage to be at now,” said Smith. “This opens the real possibility of Scotland and her key European partners delivering another world first not simply in shipbuilding but also in building sustainable local sources of fuelling in parallel.”
Ferguson Marine, which launched the world’s first ever battery hybrid ferry (Hallaig) in 2012 and the first UK-built diesel-LNG ferry (Glen Sannox) in November 2017, will lead the project at its shipyard in Port Glasgow, Scotland.
“Over recent years, Ferguson Marine has been at the global forefront of green marine propulsion technology development,” said Chris Dunn, chief naval architect at Ferguson Marine. “This exciting project is yet another positive step on that journey and puts us firmly on track to deliver the world’s first zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell powered commercial ro-pax ferry in 2020.”
Other partners in the consortium will include Ballard Power Systems Europe, which develops proton-exchange membrane fuel cell solutions, and Norway-based company Kongsberg Maritime, which delivers systems for dynamic positioning and navigation, marine automation, safety management and more. Meanwhile, Germany’s DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems, which will analyse the complete hydrogen supply process chain and France-based company McPhy will provide augmented electrolyzers and hydrogen stations for the vessel and help to design the project’s landside infrastructure.
The HySeas III project formally begins on 1 July. Initially, the consortium plans to use Ballard technology to construct and a hydrogen-powered modular drive train and use real data from existing vessels to test how it performs onshore in different conditions. After ascertaining that it will operate safely and efficiently, the group will build the vessel and work with the Orkney Isles Council and Orkney Ferries to trial her on different routes in the sea around Orkney.
“I am delighted that this exciting project has chosen Orkney as the place to test and, hopefully, operate the worlds first hydrogen ro-pax ferry,” said Graham Sinclair, chair of the Development and Infrastructure Committee for the Orkney Islands Council. “We very much look forward to working with our partners from across Europe and, in time, the Scottish Government, as we move from concept to an operational ferry over the next few years.”
Worldwide ferry industry association Interferry will promote the HySeas III project and share its progress via its website, internal news bulletins, social media and lead other collaborative media relations efforts.
“The potential for hydrogen as a ferry fuel will feature at our 43rd annual conference in Cancun, Mexico, this October, which underlines our support for this important project,” said Johan Roos, director of Regulatory Affairs at Interferry. “It’s a very timely collaboration, given that the International Maritime Organization reached an accord in April requiring a 50% reduction in maritime carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Hydrogen raises the extremely interesting possibility of a long-range, carbon dioxide-free option.”