DRIFT receives £4.65m funding for green hydrogen-producing yachts
A new ‘free range wind farm’ approach to green hydrogen production at sea has secured seed funding from a major tech investor.
DRIFT Energy has a novel concept for the production of renewable hydrogen, integrating an electrolyser into specialised autonomous yachts to generate hydrogen from seawater using wind power, and has secured £4.65m in seed funding to pursue the concept.
The startup plans to deploy its yachts to the deep ocean, harnessing strong winds with modern aerofoil sails to propel the vessels, and dragging an underwater turbine to power the onboard electrolyser. The vision is for a flotilla of yachts, each following a routing algorithm to make optimal use of the weather, returning to port to offload as soon the hydrogen tanks are filled.
Venture capital investor Octopus Ventures led the seed funding round with further support coming from blue economy investment platform Blue Action Accelerator.
DRIFT said it will use the funds to bolster its vessel design programme, support team growth, and enable the onboarding of new partners as the company plans its first keel laying in 2025.
The company has already produced green hydrogen from a demonstrator hydrofoil sailing yacht, but its ambitions are to build its class of MVY (most valuable yacht) superyachts. The 58 m-long MVY will have a rated power of 1-2 MW, producing 150,000 kg of hydrogen per year, DRIFT claims.
The vessels have been pitched as both bespoke shadow vessels to bring net zero operations and fuel independence to other ships, and as part of a flotilla generating green hydrogen for bunkering at sea or in-port.
Ben Medland, DRIFT Founder and CEO, said: “Octopus Ventures is a prolific and experienced investor in the field of Deep Tech, and we are thrilled to announce their investment in DRIFT.
"Alongside the support from Blue Action Accelerator, this funding enables us to drive with momentum into the next phase of our mission. We will work closely with Octopus and our advisory teams to bring our vision of ‘Oceans of Energy’ to life with that all-important first net positive ship.”
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