New European project sets out to develop liquid hydrogen-fueled SOV design

The consortium led by ArianeGroup, an industrial company handling liquid hydrogen (LH2) for space applications, has launched a new project to develop solutions for storing and using LH2 as an energy carrier for maritime transport. The solution will be integrated into a new zero-emission service operation vessel (SOV) for offshore wind farms.

The project named NAVHYS gathers 11 partners from a wide range of fields, including the space industry, shipbuilding, ship operations, and energy and safety, that will focus on developing and testing the below-deck LH2 storage and fuel system over the next three years.

The system will be integrated into an SOV ship designed by VARD for North Star, a shipping company that will define the operations scenario and confirm the operability of the proposed design in the NAVHYS project.

The developers will also seek to obtain approval in principle (AiP) from the classification society Bureau Veritas for this vessel design.

Marie-Sophie Nizou, Program Manager at ArianeGroup and Coordinator of NAVHYS, pointed to the importance of hydrogen as a promising energy carrier for shipping: “Currently, near-coast projects rely on gaseous hydrogen. For long-distance shipping, liquid hydrogen offers more advantages because of its energy density. However, storing this fuel requires tanks capable of maintaining extremely low temperatures (-253°C). The severe constraints linked to cooling and insulating tanks on board ships are a technological challenge here. Our experience with Ariane will help us to provide a solution.”

Other partners involved in the project are: ENGIE (supply chain and bunkering station design), Ineris (hazard identification), Research Institutes of Sweden (safety and hydrogen hazard analysis), LEITAT (LCA evaluation and NAVHYS solution assessment), UK’s University of Birmingham (technology scale-up), European Research Institute for Gas and Energy Innovation (dissemination, communication and exploitation), Italy’s Gas and Heat (LH2 fuel tank design), Benkei (project coordination and management), and The Maritime Cluster of Northern Germany (associated partner).

The NAVHYS project is supported by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and its members and co-funded by the European Union.

Clean Hydrogen Partnership Executive Director Valérie Bouillon-Delporte said: “The Clean Hydrogen Partnership is proud to support this pioneering project, which explores in-hull integration of liquid hydrogen tanks for maritime applications.

“NAVHYS is fully in line with the Clean Hydrogen Partnership’s core mission, which is to promote innovations that drive both the energy transition and the competitiveness of European companies; it will play a crucial role in accelerating the decarbonisation of the sector while ensuring that Europe remains at the forefront of clean hydrogen technology.”

In 2024, France-headquartered Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) also introduced a concept for an SOV that utilizes liquid hydrogen as its primary fuel source.