Havyard makes progress on hydrogen-powered system for large ships

Havyard believes that is large vessels are to sail on zero emission at high speed over long distances, battery solutions does not contain enough energy, but fuel cells running on hydrogen is a solution.

With the first phase of the prototype for hydrogen system completed, Havyard is now entering into the approval stage for the system together with Linde Engineering as tank supplier and PowerCell Sweden as supplier of fuel cells.

“The regulations for these solutions have not yet been developed, and we are pleased to have Linde onboard when entering the approval process, which we expect to be very challenging,” said Kristian Osnes, project manager for Havyard’s FreeCO2ast project.

“PowerCell’s core technology for fuel cells is well documented through their cooperation with Bosch for the car industry, and we are looking forward to working with them to create the right solutions for the maritime sector,” he said.

Osnes added that fuel cells have similarities with the battery technology already in use in a number of ferry projects, hence the cooperation will provide high quality maritime solutions, as they take the zero emissions goal one step further – from battery to hydrogen.

Havyard, PowerCell and Linde will design a hydrogen solution and take the first step towards certification, before the solution will be offered to cruise ferry Havila Kystruten for retrofitting.

Kristian Voksoy Steinsvik, head of research and development at Havyard, said: “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.”