At the Yacht Club de Monaco the hydrogen innovation in the maritime industry

Addressing hydrogen innovation in the maritime and yachting industry. It is the goal of the annual Hydrogen Round Table (5th edition this year) organised by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Monaco Energy Transition and YCM, that was held at the Yacht Club de Monaco during the Energy Boat Challenge. 

Among the protagonists of the day there’s SBM Offshore. “At SBM Offshore we firmly believe that investing in the spirit of the competition, considering the opportunities that we create for the engineers of tomorrow, is fundamental to make a safe energy transition happening. Hydrogen is one of the main technologies that are on the table at this moment so we see it as part of the equation. In this stance we’ve developed a pontoon that has been producing hydrogen to refuel the boats this year. We also presented a commercial solution we’re looking at in the realm of hydrogen, specifically in the ammonia sector, being the terminals for the ammonia offloading and looking forward in the coming years we’ll be also focusing on considering FPSOs for the production of ammonia”, said Francesco Prazzo, managing director of SBM Offshore. Moving on to the infrastructure, NatPower H announced the finalization of the first hydrogen refueling during the nautical event. The refueling operation for green hydrogen took place in the early hours of the morning at the port of Fontvieille (Monaco) with support and technical and technological know-how from Linde Gas. “We’re here because this event is becoming a reference in the global hydrogen evolution market. Also, here 3 boats, which are Madblue P-01, Inocel-Poseidon and the Cambridge University Riviera Racing, that were here to show their designs but in the morning, we refueled them with hydrogen in agreement with the local port authority so they’re now all available to test with hydrogen on board”, said Andrea Minerdo, ceo NatPower H.

“One year ago, we decided to start this project and it is the first infrastructure of hydrogen refueling station for the pleasure yachting market”, he reminded. As hydrogen gains more space, one of the many questions being asked is ‘Fuel cell or ICE? What does the future hold?’. “Hydrogen is a topic to decarbonize and it can have different types of applications. In the marine sector, the big issue that we have is that we lack of hydrogen and today the infrastructure is not ready. That is the main thing that is slowing down the market. The technology though is now emerging and there are some very efficient solutions such as fuel cells that are ready and very efficient for intensive usage and also H2ICE engines as a solution to accelerate the ecosystem”, added Jules Billiet ceo Inocel.