Bureau Veritas, Vinssen and EcoLabs join forces to develop hydrogen-fuelled vessels

French classification society Bureau Veritas (BV), South Korean boat manufacturer Vinssen, and the EcoLabs Centre of Innovation for Energy (EcoLabs) at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with plans to demonstrate commercialisation of eco-friendly marine propulsion system technology and products in Singapore and Korea.

Under the agreement, the trio will be working together to develop a pilot project in Singapore demonstrating hydrogen-based power generation by discovering in-depth knowledge about hydrogen to be used as an eco-friendly marine fuel by integrating hydrogen fuel cell systems on harbour crafts.

BV’s new Centre of Excellence – innovation, and Centre for Alternative and Renewable Energy (iCARE), will be leading the initiative and looking forward to working with Vinssen and NTU’s EcoLabs to produce commercially feasible studies that could empower organisations to take up sustainable growth and work towards a greener future together.

Vinssen said it continues to steadily invest in research and strategies to develop a sustainable propulsion system to reduce greenhouse emissions with a primary focus on applying the hydrogen fuel cell system and electric vehicle battery (EVB) technology to shipbuilding and marine industries.

“Vinssen is actively developing propulsion and control systems for alternative marine fuels including Hydrogenia, Korea’s first commercial hydrogen electric boat… With collaboration with NTU and BV iCARE, we hope to extend our product portfolio to Singapore and beyond,” Chil-han Lee, CEO of Vinssen, said.

EcoLabs is accelerating deep-tech energy innovation capabilities in Singapore to support the nation’s future energy transition by collaborating with diverse corporate and venture capital partners to provide innovation programmes for the deep tech start-ups to translate their ideas and de-risk their innovation efforts towards commercialisation.

“Hydrogen is a key element in decarbonised economy. This partnership is expected to benefit local ecosystem here while facilitating energy transition and associated infrastructure developments for decarbonization. We are pleased to support the development of the project through our extensive network of global partners, including corporate partners, government agencies, investors, research institutions and other successful startups,” Mahesh Kumar, Programme Director at the EcoLabs Centre of Innovation (COI) for Energy, commented.

Following the agreement, the parties will be moving on to make detailed discussions on the project.

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