HAV Hydrogen and Norwegian Electric Systems (NES) have completed a successful laboratory test of a hydrogen fuel cell in combination with a maritime control system.
The successful test continues the FreeCO2ast project, which has developed a high-capacity hydrogen-based energy system that can be retrofitted onboard ships.
HAV Hydrogen MD Kristian Osnes said: “This brings us another step closer to realising our objective of making the first commercial delivery of a fully integrated hydrogen-based energy system for ships.”
The scope of the project was to test NES’ proprietary control system and interface with a hydrogen fuel cell and associated drives, including validation of the system design, software and hardware. In addition, control, safety systems and barriers for the integration of the fuel cells were tested. In the test, the hydrogen fuel cell was benchmarked against a meticulously simulated load profile, developed using advanced simulation tools from the ground-breaking FreeCO2ast project.
NES MD Siv Remøy-Vangen said: “Securing a robust interface between the hydrogen fuel cell and the control system is normally a complex and challenging task. We made it work in a short space of time, which is something we are very proud of.”
Both HAV Hydrogen and NES are subsidiaries of Norway-based provider of low and zero emission maritime technologies, HAV Group. The successful test was conducted in cooperation with Clara Venture Labs, hosted by Sustainable Energy at its Energy House test facility at Stord, Norway. Independent research institute Sintef Ocean, which developed the test’s simulation model, was another project partner.
The test is a continuation of the FreeCO2ast project which has developed a high-capacity hydrogen energy system that can be retrofitted onboard one of Havila Kystruten’s coastal cruise ships.
Osnes concluded: “This test was an important milestone, providing valuable learning for the future development of a large-scale hydrogen-based energy system.”
