The project, run by a consortium of 14 European companies and organizations, aims to build a fuel system on an offshore vessel in 2023 to demonstrate the technology's potential and to carry out studies on other types of vessels to demonstrate the ability to transfer the technology to other sectors of the shipping industry.
The ShipFC group, led by the Norwegian cluster organization NCE Maritime CleanTech, was awarded an approximately $12 million grant under the EU Joint Undertaking for Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH JU).
The aim is also to ensure that a large fuel cell can safely and efficiently provide total electric power to shipboard systems.The partners are seeking to scale up a 100-kilowatt fuel cell to produce 2 megawatts in the first phase of the project.
In a parallel project, the fuel cell is being tested on land and Prototech will undertake the production and construction. The experiments will be carried out at the Norwegian Catapult Centre for Renewable Energy with the ship's ammonia system supplied by Wärtsilä.
The aim is to install the ammonia fuel cell system aboard the Viking Energy, which is owned and operated by Eidesvik and on contract with the global energy company Equinor, at the end of 2023.
In order to illustrate the potential to adapt this technology to other sectors of the shipping industry, another section of the ShipFC project will conduct studies on three other vessel types, including an offshore construction vessel and two cargo vessel types.
The project reflects the latest stage in Equinor, Eidesvik, and Wärtsilä's long-term partnership.
Maritime Business World