Havyard developing worlds largest hydrogen fuel cell system

Havyard has successfully completed the first stage of a battery hybrid-hydrogen fuel cell concept, FreeCO2ast. The company has added hydrogen containment specialist Linde Engineering as the supplier of a cryogenic hydrogen fuel tank, as well as PEM fuel cell supplier PowerCell Sweden AB.

The project anticipates the design of the most powerful maritime fuel cell system, a 3.2MW PEMFC system based on several marinized 200-kW fuel cell system modules connected in parallel.

The project is intended to be offered to coastal ferry operator Havila Kystruten for retrofit aboard one of its four new coastal ferries. The development of the hydrogen system is part of a PilotE project in which the Havyard companies and the research institutions Sintef and Prototech are working together.

The size of the Havila Kystruten vessels, the size of the proposed PEM fuel cell, and the goal to deliver sufficient energy to power the vessel up to half the distance between Bergen and Kirkenes means that compressed hydrogen was not a suitable fuel solution. The project has focused on liquefied hydrogen as a fuel since the early stages of the project.

Kristian Osnes, the project manager for the Havyard Group’s FreeCO2ast project, Kristian Osnes, noted Linde’s experience in designing and manufacturing equipment for cryogenic gases was a particular consideration.

“We believe they are the right partner for finding solutions that will ensure safe storage and control barriers for cryogenic hydrogen on board ships. The regulations for these solutions have not yet been developed, and we are pleased to have Linde on-board when entering the approval process, which we expect to be very challenging.”

The NMA is understood to be collaborating with DNV GL on addressing safety issues connected with the storage, bunkering and use of liquefied hydrogen as a fuel. FreeCO2ast has also liaised with Lloyd’s Register’s Bergen-based hydrogen consultancy team.

The expertise developed during the project is expected to benefit all of the project partners. The head of research and development at Havyard Group, Kristian Voksøy Steinsvik, noted the group would develop experience to deliver complete hydrogen solutions for several types of ships.

“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,” Steinsvik added.