Corvus plans large-scale production of maritime fuel cell systems

Corvus is spearheading a collaboration with Norwegian partners Equinor, shipowners Norled and Wilhelmsen, ship design company LMG Marin, the NCE Maritime CleanTech cluster and R&D institution the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) to develop and produce modularised and cost-effective PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel-cell systems for the international marine market.

Production will be based in Bergen, Norway.

The development is scheduled to showcase its first marine fuel cell system onboard a vessel in 2023 and the product will be available for commercial delivery from 2024.

“Adding fuel cell modules to our product portfolio is a natural step for Corvus and advances our vision to be the leading supplier of zero-emission marine solutions. Fuel cell technology has reached a maturity level where scale-up of systems will be the next step,” said Geir Bjorkeli, ceo of Corvus.

Interest in hydrogen for maritime applications has been increasing rapidly, with hydrogen power seen as an important step to reach shipping’s ambitious goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050. Reducing the cost of fuel cells and increasing access to the technology is crucial to accelerate the transition.

Corvus believes that the project represents an important step towards achieving both goals by producing modularised systems not available on a large scale today.

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The project has received EUR5.2m ($6.3m) in funding from state agency Innovation Norway.

“Decarbonisation is inevitable and at Toyota, we are convinced that hydrogen will play a central role in creating a better future, both environmentally and economically,” said Thiebault Paquet, director of fuel cell business group at Toyota Motor Europe.