R&D PROJECT
The REMKOF-project was initiated by the ARENA-project ”Gass i Vest”. The ARENA-program is part of Innovation Norway’s toolbox in order to contribute to industrial development within selected market areas or industrial sectors.

The “Gass i Vest”-project is lead by CMR and IRIS and is sponsored by Innovation Norway, The Research Council of Norway, Lyse Energi, BKK as well as the Rogaland and Hordaland Counties. 


OBJECTIVE
Fuel cell powered vessels fuelled by natural gas or hydrogen will contribute significantly to the reduction of harmful emissions from ships such as NOx, SOx, CO2 as well as particulate matters. Emissions from ships comprise 11-16% of the global NOx-emissions, 8% of the global SOx-emissions and 2% of the CO2 emissions. NOx-emissions from ships can be reduced by a least one order of magnitude utilizing fuel cell technology compared to e.g. diesel powered vessels.

The project aims to establish a cluster of Norwegian companies focusing on development and commercialization of fuel cell based systems for marine propulsion and power generation, including both necessary basic research and verification of a passenger ferry operating on a hydrogen fuel cell. The project will link the cluster with national and international research groups and companies to make available the technology and components required to enable short term implementation of clean power in small ships. The project will radically enhance competence and state-of-the-art of fuel cell systems for small ships, allowing to create important business development opportunities for the national marine industry.

The main objective of the R&D project is to:

• establish design basis and operational knowledge for safe, efficient and reliable integration of fuel cell systems in small ships with focus on durability and extended lifetime in marine environment.

This overall objective will be realized through:

• development and experimental verification of a fuel cell propulsion system to be installed in a small passenger ferry operating in the Bergen Harbour.
• theoretical and experimental work on fuel cells and fuel cell components in marine environment, with focus on durability and extended lifetime
• establishing design basis for integration of fuel cell systems in various small ship concepts
• establish requirements for marine fuel cell systems
• establish guidelines for NG based hydrogen infrastructure for small ships

Hydrogen propelled scale modell of M/F Vågen
 
Contacts at Prototech:

Asbjørn Strand

Tomas Ryberg