'Engine room in a box' | Technology that can convert any ship to run on hydrogen gets initial approval
Hav Hydrogen's Pod is designed as an on-deck drop-in solution, but will require a lot of further space for H2 storage, company boss tells Hydrogen Insight
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“You wouldn’t install hydrogen on a ship unless you saw a need to cut emissions,” he says. “So it’s a trade-off between emissions and costs.”
Hav is targeting operators of short sea and inland cargo vessels as potential customers, as well as passenger ferries and, in the longer term, offshore wind farm operators.
But liquefied hydrogen requires storage at temperatures below minus 253°C, making it difficult to handle and store at sea, as well as extra costs for liquefaction.
The pod system — which received Approval in Principle (AiP) status from DNV, meaning the design is feasible, safe and meets the relevant standards of the International Maritime Organisation — can be used for auxiliary power or propulsion.
“There will be various combinations, with hybrid [conventional fuel and hydrogen fuel cell] solutions at first,” he says. “Then mostly auxiliary power and a little bit of propulsion, and then finally all propulsion.”
The system can also be integrated in new-builds, which would “de-risk” the technology for shipyards, Osnes adds, many of which are only recently getting to grips with alternative fuels and ship designs, .
Hav will begin construction of the units later this year, targeting full approval from DNV for the manufactured product, and aiming to make the first deliveries in 2025, by which time Osnes believes that supplies of green hydrogen will be readily available in Europe.
Storage requirements will depend on the ship and the size of the system, but Osnes estimated that operating a 1MW system for 15 hours will require two additional 20-foot conainers of compressed hydrogen.