Consortium wins grant to develop Scottish Islands hydrogen ship and infrastructure
A project to establish a hydrogen-powered autonomous cargo ship service between Aberdeen and the Orkney and Shetland Islands has secured a multi-million-pound government grant.
The Hydrogen Innovation – Future Infrastructure & Vessel Evaluation and Demonstration (HI-FIVED) consortium is led by ACUA Ocean, a zero-emission vessel provider, in partnership with zero-emission infrastructure provider Unitrove.
The project is backed by a number of major players in the maritime industry including the University of Southampton, Southampton-based companies Composite Manufacturing and Design and NASH Maritime, the Port of Aberdeen, Zero Emissions Maritime Technology, and Trident Marine Electrical.
The consortium will use the £3.8 million government grant to manufacture and showcase key technologies which include installing Unitrove’s world first liquid hydrogen bunkering facility at the Port of Aberdeen and ACUA Ocean’s proposal to build and operate the world’s first maritime autonomous surface ship powered by liquid hydrogen.
The project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 3 (CMDC3), which was announced in September 2022, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.
As part of the CMDC3, the Department allocated £60m to 19 flagship projects supported by 92 UK organisations to deliver demonstration R&D projects in clean maritime solutions.
Michael Tinmouth, COO of ACUA Ocean, said, “Delivering successful technology demonstrations is critical to de-risking future investment in maritime decarbonisation. This CMDC3 project brings together a consortium of innovative partners, subcontractors, and suppliers from across the maritime sector, who are all laser-focused on the need to reduce emissions and accelerate the adoption and commercialisation of new technologies.”
Steven Lua, CEO of Unitrove, said, “We are absolutely thrilled to receive UK government support to enable real-world demonstration of the world’s first liquid hydrogen autonomous vessel and infrastructure. Having built such a strong consortium of eight fantastic partners across the supply-chain, we can have great confidence that we will deliver something truly remarkable.”
Mark Harper, Secretary of State for Transport of the United Kingdom, said: “Our maritime sector imports 95% of goods into the UK and contributes £116 billion to our economy – more than both aviation and rail combined.
“With growing the economy one of the government’s top priorities, we must continue our efforts to ensure the UK remains a pioneer in cutting-edge clean maritime solutions. This funding will help to do just that, bringing emission-free concepts to life and fuelling innovation.”