Havyard has started the approval phase for a hydrogen-powered cruise vessel.
The company has also signed agreements with hydrogen tanks and fuel cells providers.
Battery solutions do not contain enough energy for long voyages, Havyard claimed. However, fuel cells running on hydrogen is a solution.
As a result, Havyard Group, together with Havyard Design & Solutions and Norwegian Electric Systems (NES), is undertaking development work on the development of a system that will become the largest of its kind for ships.
The first phase has been completed, and the company is now entering into the approval stage for the hydrogen system together with tank supplier Linde Engineering and PowerCell Sweden as supplier of fuel cells.
The project manager for the Havyard Group’s FreeCO2ast project, Kristian Osnes, claimed that Linde is a significant player in the market for designing and manufacturing equipment for cryogenic gases.
“We believe they are the right partner for finding solutions that will ensure safe storage and control barriers for cryogenic hydrogen on board ships. The regulations for these solutions have not yet been developed, and we are pleased to have Linde on board when entering the approval process, which we expect to be very challenging,” Osnes said.
He added: “PowerCell’s core technology for fuel cells is well documented through their co-operation with Bosch for the car industry, and we are looking forward to working with them to create the right solutions for the maritime sector.”
Osnes explained that fuel cells have similarities with battery technology and that NES has already worked on a number of ferry projects, he therefore thought the co-operation will provide high quality maritime solutions.
The agreement stipulates that the Havyard companies, together with PowerCell and Linde, will design a hydrogen solution and take the first step towards certification. This solution will be offered to Havila Kystruten for retrofit projects.
“This encourages us to have a comprehensive solution in mind from the start. We will deliver a system that is safe, that takes up little space, that is easy to retrofit and, of course, that does the job,” Osnes said.
This development is part of a PilotE project in which the Havyard companies and the research institutions Sintef and Prototech are working together.
Head of research and development at Havyard Group, Kristian Voksøy Steinsvik, said PilotE is very useful when it comes to simplifying the application process in relation to the range of Norwegian research and development funding instruments, and not least in terms of the support, which lessens the risk inherent in spearheading the development.
“With PilotE on the team, you can dare to be a first mover at the same time as having a broad focus on developing tools and methods that will benefit both us and the industry, regardless of the type of technical solution we land on,“ he said.
“The interaction will provide us with experience to deliver complete hydrogen solutions for several types of ships. The system we are developing is designed in modules and can be installed both in newbuilds and retrofitted in existing ships.
“In this way, we will contribute to development of large-scale vessels that can sail emission free over long distances, or significant emission cuts from vessels that use hybrid propulsion systems,” Steinsvik said.
PILOT-E is a financing initiative for Norwegian business and industry, established by the Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and Enova.
Its aim is to more quickly develop products and services in environmentally friendly energy technology and use them to contribute to emission reductions both in Norway and internationally.
