Green Hydrogen Produced By Fleets Of Roving Shadow Ships

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

---

File this one under N for Now We’ve Seen Everything. A UK startup is planning to launch a fleet of futuristic sailboats equipped with electrolysis systems to produce green hydrogen fuel on-the-go. If that sounds a bit wacky, consider that the target markets are superyachts in need of clean fuel, along with islands, coastal communities, and port facilities where land for industrial development is scarce and conventional fuels are expensive.

Green Hydrogen Produced By Yachts: Not So Crazy After All

The startup behind the green hydrogen venture is DRIFT Energy. Oddball as it sounds, the basic pieces of the puzzle are in place. Green hydrogen is a new but rapidly maturing industry, the idea being to jolt hydrogen loose from water in an electrolysis system instead of extracting it from natural gas or coal. Hydrogen can be burned in a internal combustion engine or deployed to power zero emission fuel cells, which are already making an appearance in the high tech world of yacht racing.

Electrolysis systems are scalable and transportable, so it’s not much of a stretch to see them installed on a ship. DRIFT plans to run its electrolysis systems on electricity generated by underwater hydrogenerators. Turbines of this sort are in use today to provide on-board electricity for yachts and other vessels rather than relying on diesel generators.

Water is the final piece of the puzzle, and water is all around a sailing ship. Conventional electrolysis systems rely on purified water, but water purification systems are commonplace on board ships at sea. In addition, researchers are working on new electrolysis systems that can produce green hydrogen from seawater without the expense of pretreatment (see more clean H2 background here).

£4.65 Million To Produce Green Hydrogen At Sea

Some leading investors have seen enough to convince them that DRIFT’s seagoing green hydrogen plan has legs. Last week the company announced a £4.65 million round of seed funding spearheaded by the UK firm Octopus Ventures, a branch of the firm Octopus Investments.

Octopus Ventures describes itself as “one of the largest and most active venture capital investors in Europe.” Healthcare is a main focus of Octopus Ventures and sustainability is also a leading concern. The firm is on the prowl for change makers. “The entrepreneurs we back are reimagining how whole industries behave,” Octopus explains.

“By 2030 we aim to have invested £10 billion in the industries that are bringing about positive change,” they add.

Also supporting the seed round is Blue Ocean Accelerator. The firm has developed ocean-focused pre-seed and seed impact startup support hubs in the Bahamas. It is also developing a footprint here in the US through Miami-Dade County in Florida, the Port of San Diego, and the AltaSea innovation campus at the Port of Los Angles in California, which is the site of a wave energy pilot test.

“Our offer is deliberately designed to dramatically increase the odds of success for companies at the earliest of stages,” Blue Ocean explains. “We provide a $150,000 investment alongside a four month expert support program and access to a global network of investors, corporate partners, technologists, as well as public and private markets.”

DRIFT also notes that it has received funding from Innovate UK. The company anticipates that the grant will help streamline the design process of its initial ship, which it is calling “MVY.” Short for Most Valuable Ship, the name refers to the value of producing green hydrogen with renewable energy from the sea.

Green Hydrogen At Sea: From Drawing Board To Delivery

It won’t be long before we find out how all the pieces fit together. DRIFT anticipates that it will lay its first keel sometime next year. The company’s website is a bit thin on detail but it does indicate that the electrolyser will be a megawatt-scale system capable of producing green hydrogen at the gigawatt scale.

The company is also depending on an AI-enabled routing system to take optimal advantage of wind and weather conditions while at sea, timing the return trip to port with its hydrogen storage tanks topped off.

Going by the artist renderings, the ship is a catamaran powered by four hard sails. DRIFT describes it as a “shadow ship.” That can mean many things, but in this context the reference is to the specialized vessels that provide support services to large yachts. In theory, an MVY could follow a superyacht around the world, plying it with green hydrogen any time, any place. “DRIFT Energy MVY yachts are available as bespoke shadow vessels, enabling a bold owner to achieve true net zero and uniquely become fuel independent,” the company emphasizes.

The Marine Energy Connection

As for whether or not the MVY can become commercially viable, that remains to be seen. In the meantime, DRIFT and its “Oceans of Energy” concept present an interesting collaboration between wind energy, marine energy, and green hydrogen production.

Marine energy is another new industry on the verge of coming into widespread use. It refers specifically to devices that harvest energy from the motion of waves, tides, and currents on oceans and inland waters. Most of these devices are tethered to the seabed or some other fixed point, but there is one startup, called Magallenes Renovables, that deploys its tidal turbines from a vessel that resembles a cargo ship (see more marine energy background here).

As for the green hydrogen industry, that has had its ups and downs. On the downside, the global mining firm Fortescue is representative of green hydrogen stakeholders who entered the market with ambitious plans in recent years, only to scale back in recent months.

Despite the challenges, new green hydrogen hot spots keep emerging. Ukraine, for example, anticipates that its vast renewable energy resources will help support government policies in Europe that support fuel cell vehicles and other hydrogen-centric systems.

Here in the US, the Biden administration is forging ahead with the $7 billion Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub program, which draws on water electrolysis along with other hydrogen supply chains including biomass and fossil fuels.

Keep an eye on Texas. Federal officials have tried and failed to attract offshore wind stakeholders to the Texas portion of the Gulf of Mexico coastline, but last month an unsolicited bidder popped up with a proposal to develop a designated offshore wind energy lease area off the coast of Corpus Christi. Hydrogen stakeholders at the Port of Corpus Christi did not make the cut for Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs funding, but the availability of offshore wind energy could nevertheless help spark a green hydrogen industry at the busy seaport.

Follow me via LinkTree, or @tinamcasey on Threads, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Image (cropped): A UK startup plans to launch roving fleet of high tech sailing ships, aimed at leveraging wind power and underwater turbines to produce green hydrogen on-the-go (courtesy of DRIFT Energy).