World's First Compressed Hydrogen Ship To Export ‘Zero Carbon’ Energy

GEV is positioning as an early mover in the future of energy, leveraging its technical expertise in the engineering of marine pressure vessels to develop a compressed hydrogen ship for export and transport to customers demanding access to zero-carbon energy.

Highlights

GEV’s H2 Ship will have a storage capacity of up to 2,000 tonnes (23 million m3) of compressed hydrogen. Smaller capacity ships will be evaluated by GEV for demonstration purposes based on specific pilot export projects.

hydrogen-compressed-transport- — Image Credits: gev.com

The Company anticipates that detailed engineering will be lodged as part of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Approval in Principle process in early 2021.
Hydrogen is a clean-burning fuel that can be produced in several ways, including using renewable energy produced from solar, wind and hydro. Such hydrogen then needs to be transported to industries, providing them with green energy with zero carbon emissions.
Governments and major oil and gas companies are aligned to accelerate ‘net-zero carbon’ targets, with significant stimulus funding and capital expenditure being directed to hydrogen as the pillar for decarbonizing the world’s heavy emitting industries.
Australia leads the world with a National Hydrogen Strategy that includes the establishment of ‘Hydrogen Hubs’ for production and export to the country’s major energy trading partners across the Asia Pacific region.
GEV will focus on Australian export projects, with several projects advancing through pilot phases and now looking to export markets.
Funding options from existing and newly announced Australian Government R&D programs are being assessed under the Federal Government commitment of A$1.9B to the development of renewable technologies.

Maurice Brand, Executive Chairman & CEO commented: “Today we are excited to announce the Company’s hydrogen strategy to develop a new class of ship for the marine transportation of hydrogen. GEV sees Australia as the global leader for establishing a national hydrogen strategy and industry with major funding programs in place.

Australia has also established future hydrogen export agreements with regional customers in Japan, Korea, Singapore, and most recently Germany.

Our company was established on entrepreneurial principles and to be the leader in new forms of marine transport of energy. To be focussed on a new class of vessels to transport hydrogen is now timely given the global push by governments and major corporates to focus on ‘net-zero carbon’ policies, with hydrogen as a pillar for decarbonizing heavy carbon emission industries.

hydrogen-compressed-transport-1 — Image Credits: gev.com

The launch of a new compressed H2 Ship does not detract from our focus on the commercialization of the CNG Optimum as we progress multiple opportunities in the America’s and globally.” Martin Carolan, Executive Director Corporate & Finance commented: “Over the course of 2020, the Company has been closely monitoring the growing support for hydrogen as a clean energy source. In our view, the application of GEV’s compressed hydrogen vessel will be very competitive against other marine transport options, particularly to Australia’s regional Asia Pacific customers.

The Company has deep expertise and a history of successful design and approval of a new class of marine vessels that utilize compression for the storage of energy. It is logical for GEV to expand its offering to a growth sector in ‘zero carbon’ energy fuels and leverage the key assets we have in our people and IP.

An accelerated program for the ship design, engineering, and initial stage of ABS approvals will position GEV as a leading solution for the export of hydrogen from Australia to the key energy markets in the Asia Pacific.

The Australian Government, and other countries in Europe, have committed to providing significant financial stimulus to accelerate Climate Change Policy decisions and directly implement funding and policy support to further develop the full supply chain of hydrogen, including the growth of export markets. There is a growing list of Australian hydrogen projects moving through successful pilot and into a domestic scale-up phase that has export plans.

GEV recognizes the key to driving down the economics of hydrogen production will be scale and the key to scale will be developing an export industry.”

ADVANCING ENGINEERING AND APPROVALS FOR A COMPRESSED H2 SHIP

The Company’s Marine Engineering and Development Teams have established an accelerated program to develop the technical specifications for an innovative compressed H2 Ship, including the cargo containment system, to be designed in accordance with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) rules and guidelines. The Company is confident that its credentials in successfully attaining design approvals with ABS, on two occasions, utilizing proprietary marine designs will enable GEV to execute an efficient and cost-effective program to achieve the first key milestone of Approval In Principle (AIP) from ABS targeted for completion in the first half of 2021.

Figure 1 is an illustration of GEV’s compressed hydrogen ship. The ship and its innovative cargo system are in the patent process and GEV expects to receive broad patent protection for this novel ship, further extending our intellectual property suite. The containment system will include ambient temperature hydrogen at a target pressure of 3,600 psi (or 250 bar). GEV’s H2 Ship will have a storage capacity of up to 2,000 tonnes (23 million m3) of compressed hydrogen. Smaller capacity ships will be evaluated by GEV for demonstration purposes based on specific pilot export projects.

With the rapid advancement of fuel cell technology for vessels, GEV intends to include engines that burn pure hydrogen, providing a ‘zero-carbon’ shipping solution.

Funding options from existing and newly announced Australian Government R&D programs are being assessed. The Company has successfully applied for and received Australian R&D funding programs for the completion of ABS full design approvals for the CNG Optimum ship in 2018-2019, and expects the new compressed H2 Ship will also qualify for similar R&D funding, along with meeting the criteria for a number of specific new R&D funding programs now set out for the development of hydrogen technologies.

HYDROGEN TO EMPOWER THE ENERGY TRANSITION

Hydrogen is a clean-burning gas that can be used for energy storage, heat, transport, and industrial processes, and is increasingly being seen as having a major role in the decarbonization of the energy sector.

The production of hydrogen has been in existence for many decades and is based on existing technologies. Historically production has occurred from fossil fuels, namely coal and natural gas, with a combination of carbon capture and storage to produce brown and blue hydrogen. Today, hydrogen is gaining popularity as the pillar for the next generation of renewable energy sources to achieve ‘net-zero carbon’ targets.

Numerous governments and corporations have now mandated that the future production of hydrogen will focus on green hydrogen using clean, renewable energy. Solar, wind, or hydropower will be used to generate electricity, which is then used to split hydrogen from water using a process of electrolysis, a well-proven and established technology.

Green hydrogen delivers a high energy density fuel source that does not emit CO2 or greenhouse emissions during consumption. The expected applications will include heavy emission industries, such as power generation, petrochemical, long-haul transport (road and marine), steel, cement, and fertilizer.

Importantly, hydrogen is already a well-established energy source that has been safely used in industries in Australia for many decades.

Reference: gev.com