French company Green Navy has received €1.5m in finance from the Brittany Region for its battery hybrid / hydrogen fuel cell-powered passenger shuttle project, known as Prometeo.
Currently in its initial production phase, the vessel is equipped with optimised electric propulsion and hydrogen storage tanks. It will be offered as a bareboat charter solution and could, in the medium term, be sold to shipowners or public authorities responsible for inter-island, urban bay crossings, or leisure sea trips.
To address the challenges of decarbonising maritime transport, Green Navy acts as design office, project manager, and prime contractor, to develops the concept and commercialise the vessel’s reliability and performance.
The Prometeo catamaran’s propulsion system operates using high-efficiency electric motors and optimised propellers. These motors draw energy from buffer storage batteries. The onboard hydrogen serves as a complementary energy source, with a higher capacity than that of the batteries. By combining hydrogen with oxygen from the air within two fuel cells, electricity is produced, which in turn recharges the batteries.
Green Navy CEO Charles Cardi said: “This innovative setup enables Green Navy to deploy a maritime transport solution that produces no CO2 emissions during navigation, operates without noise, odour, or vibration, and offers longer range and reduced docking times. As a pioneering but pragmatic company, Green Navy will test the vessel in real-world conditions, managing every phase of the project in collaboration with our partners (design, engineering, production, and testing) through to certification. This approach will generate precise and consolidated feedback that will benefit many other hydrogen-fuel project developers in Brittany’s emerging sector.”
Image: Prometeo zero-emission catamaran design (source: Green Navy)
