TPT January 2021

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

manufactured in the UK, in order to assist the post-pandemic economic recovery: “Expanding the UK’s manufacturing base for hydrogen trains could help support the decarbonisation of the transport sector and our economic recovery from Covid- 19. It is absolutely vital that all the manufacturing is carried out domestically,” he stressed. The appearance of the hydrogen train on mainline rail tracks coincided with the UK Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, unveiling a €25.5mn ‘Hydrogen for Transport’ programme, which will include funding for new hydrogen refuse trucks and hydrogen refuelling stations in Scotland. Shapps also announced plans for a ‘Hydrogen Transport Hub’ in Tees Valley, north east England, which will bring together academics, industrialists, and government to accelerate the UK’s plans to adopt hydrogen as an alternative fuel. The Department for Transport said that a masterplan for the hub, which will examine how hydrogen could power buses, heavy goods vehicles, marine transport and aircraft, as well as trains, will be published in January 2021. The Department for Transport has said that the hydrogen technology will be available by 2023 to retrofit in current in-service trains. Shipping is also exploring the hydrogen route Researchers across the world are testing the use of hydrogen to power ships as the maritime industry endeavours to find safe, commercial technologies to cut emissions. To attain the goals set for the shipping industry by the United Nations, industry leaders say the first net-zero ships must be in the global fleet by 2030. Ships powered by green hydrogen could help meet the target. Powered by electricity from renewable sources, green hydrogen is made using electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and is emissions free. In September 2020, Royal Dutch Shell confirmed its commitment to hydrogen, describing it as “advantaged over other potential zero-emissions fuels for shipping”. However, green hydrogen is far less dense than other fuels, meaning greater onboard fuel storage capacity is needed; that makes it more feasible for use on short-voyage vessels. Technology group ABB, based in Switzerland, is working on hydrogen fuel cell systems for shipping, including passenger and cargo ships. Juha Koskela, division president, ABB Marine and Ports, said: “ABB sees short-distance shipping as the first adopters of the fuel cell technology.” One of ABB’s projects will be to develop a fuel cell-based power and propulsion system for a new-build river vessel along France’s Rhône river. Estimates from the risk management firm, DNV GL, show that green hydrogen fuel costs between four and eight times the price of very low sulphur fuel oil. Other types of hydrogen are cheaper, but that is because they are produced using fossil fuel and, as a result, are not emission free. Green hydrogen is expected to fall in price over the next decades, in line with the falling cost of renewable energy and electrolysers, but for companies to invest on a commercial scale the infrastructure for refuelling and transportation,

including electrolysers, compressors, storage, tanks and pipelines, will need to be in place. Christos Chryssakis, of DNV GL, said it took around 20 years to establish a liquefied natural gas refuelling infrastructure. He suggests the process could be quicker for hydrogen, but industry estimates still expect that many billions in investment would be needed. In Norway, regulations are stimulating the process. Cruise ships and ferries sailing through the country’s heritage- protected fjords must be emissions-free by 2026, and the regulation is forcing shipping companies to consider fuel combinations, including hydrogen. Norwegian ship designer and ship builder, Ulstein, is working on building a support ship for the offshore oil sector that would use hydrogen as a power option. “Rather than wait for hydrogen bunker infrastructure to be matured, we went for a hybrid design using a containerised solution for the hydrogen storage tanks,” said Mr Ulstein’s marketing and sales manager, Nick Wessels, adding that Ulstein is also working on a separate hydrogen project for wind installation turbine vessels. Other countries have also established their own maritime hydrogen programmes. Belgium’s Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) launched its first hydrogen-powered passenger shuttle boat in Belgium in 2017, and the company will supply a hydrogen ferry (the first in Asia) to Japan before April 2021. CMB is also involved in a tug boat project with the port of Antwerp, and other ports are working on hydrogen options at terminals. In Spain, the port of Valencia will deploy prototype machinery early in 2021, while Britain’s Felixstowe port is also considering hydrogen, in view of its close proximity to offshore wind farms and a nuclear plant. Responsible for 2.89 per cent of global CO 2 emissions, the shipping industry is in the midst of a transition to greener fuels that would reduce emission levels by 50 per cent by 2050, compared with 2008 levels. A study by the international organisation to promote the maritime industry, Global Maritime Forum (GMF), showed 19 of 21 initiatives relating to fuel production is utilising hydrogen – the majority using it to make other products, such as ammonia, methanol or ethanol, to improve the schemes’ viability. Seven projects are using pure hydrogen projects. Some shipping industry watchers remain unconvinced that hydrogen is safe as a power source for larger vessels that will need to carry large amounts of fuel onboard, but the practical economics are also in question. Kasper Søgaard, GMF’s head of research, commented: “The big challenge using hydrogen for deep sea shipping is the cargo volume you would lose to have enough hydrogen stored for long voyages,” so rendering long commercial voyages unviable. Nick Wessels expects the need for backup fuel options to persist until the necessary technology and infrastructure is fully developed. “I don’t think you can build a completely hydrogen-powered vessel of large size at this point in time,” he said. “There will still need to be another accessible power source.”

Gill Watson Features Editor (Europe)

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JANUARY 2021