The European Union body is committed to making the bloc a leading hydrogen society. How this will work in reality has yet to be seen, and how this will impact the evolution of a decarbonised shipping sector remains a large question.
But within its focus on hydrogen and fuel cells are four key projects that focus on the region’s shipping sector. There are currently four projects being funded by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking in Europe.
Here they are:
• MARANDA project, aims to develop a 165-kW PEM fuel-cell powertrain able to provide power to a research vessel’s electrical equipment and its dynamic positioning while in research mode, in the extreme cold of the Arctic
• FLAGSHIPS project is demonstrating that two commercial vessels, a push boat for river navigation and a car ferry could operate on fuel cells, with total 1 MW of PEM fuel cell power installed
• ShipFC will install 2 MW of SOFC fuel cell power running on green ammonia on the platform support vessel “Viking Energy”
• H2PORTS project will demonstrate at the Port of Valencia in real port operations, 2 dedicated equipment, specifically a reach stacker for container handling and a yard tractor for truck trailer handling, as well as a mobile HRS
Additionally the FCH2 JU has a 2020 call for proposals, and within it two additional projects should start in 2021, with a focus on demonstrating liquid hydrogen as a fuel for segments of the waterborne sector and “Pre-Normative” research on hydrogen-based fuels solutions for passenger ships.
