Mobility R&D fund investing in Dutch hydrogen-powered shipping

Mobility R&D fund in the Netherlands has granted a €24.2 million (approximately $27.5 million) subsidy to a Dutch project consortium focused on maritime hydrogen applications.

Sustainable Hydrogen Integrated Propulsion Drives (SH2IPDRIVE) consortium includes a diverse group of 25 companies and institutions from across the maritime sector.

The consortium aims to collaborate on what is said to be a broad and ambitious innovation project. The focus is on accelerating the introduction of hydrogen as a marine fuel.

As disclosed, the total project fund is €34 million ($38.63 million) which is sufficient for extensive research and development into multiple avenues for hydrogen application. It also accelerates the move to zero-emission shipping.

The scope of project activities covers the full scope of hydrogen research and development organised in nine different work packages.

Some of them are bunker and storage systems, hydrogen carriers, fuel cells, data collection and system validation, system integration, modular testing, and ship design and safety.

The main objective of SH2IPDRIVE is the development of reliable, safe, standardised, scalable and cost-effective solutions for zero-emission propulsion and energy systems for hydrogen-based ships.

The research on safe applicable technologies for hydrogen will be conducted in four different forms: compressed hydrogen gas and liquid hydrogen as well as hydrogen bound to carriers such as liquid organic hydrogen carriers and borohydrides.

Additionally, the project targets research into new fuel cell systems with a greater power density, and a longer lifespan, the use of residual heat and the scaling up of fuel cells.

Furthermore, the consortium intends to work on developing technical standards for bunkering and storage of hydrogen for shipping, integration of hydrogen technology onboard ships and ship design.

With the goal of laying the foundation for a strong maritime hydrogen economy in the Netherlands, SH2IPDRIVE is in line with the Dutch Maritime Master Plan. The plan seeks to strengthen the position of the Netherlands as a world leader in sustainable shipbuilding and shipping.