Ricardo: New milestone shows hydrogen’s potential as clean energy source

Ricardo, a London-based environmental and engineering consulting company, said that its new high-powered, multi-stack hydrogen fuel cell module technology successfully reached 393kW of net electrical power, achieved within three months of development from initial start-up.

The achievement has been described as a “major step toward scalable zero-emission energy solutions.”

As explained, the achievement was made possible due to Ricardo’s virtual engineering toolchain, which reduces physical prototyping costs and risks, accelerates development timelines, and provides a deeper understanding of system behaviors under diverse conditions.

Initially developed as part of the Sustainable Hydrogen Powered Shipping (sHYpS) Horizon Europe project for the maritime sector, Ricardo’s multi-stack hydrogen fuel cell module is designed to deliver high energy output with zero emissions. sHYpS, co-funded by the EU and Innovate UK, aims to support the decarbonization of the shipping industry.

The solution’s modular architecture integrates multiple fuel cell stacks to provide advanced power density, and scalability while meeting the evolving energy demands of diverse applications, such as maritime, stationary power generation, rail and off-highway.

“This is a pivotal moment for hydrogen technology,” Andy Ennever, Ricardo Global Head of Fuel Cells, commented.

“By reaching this milestone and completing a full transient ship operation test cycle, our multi-stack hydrogen fuel cell technology demonstrates hydrogen’s potential as a clean energy source. It also showcases Ricardo’s expertise in designing and engineering the fuel cell module entirely in-house within the timeframe set out by Horizon Europe and achieving sustained maximum power after just three months of development after the initial switch-on.”

To support the adoption of hydrogen technology, Ricardo has also developed a containerized solution, able to combine multiple fuel cell modules, enabling power output to be scaled up to 3MW per container, with the DC-DC power conversion on board, all without sacrificing efficiency or durability.

In May 2024, the company received approval in principle (AiP) from the classification society Lloyd’s Register for the design of its multi-megawatt containerized fuel cell power plant solution.

When scaled up to incorporate multiple fuel cell modules housed within two containers, a total net electrical plant output of 6MW can be delivered. This is sufficient to power a 50,000-tonne 1,000-passenger cruise ship through important zero-emission mission cycles, according to Ricardo.

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