The Norwegian Havyard Group is to establish a separate company for the manufacture of hydrogen systems for ships, following several years of research and development work on hydrogen propulsion for large vessels.
The company says it will have the first system ready for approval in principle next year, and its know-how and expertise will now be brought together in the newly formed company Havyard Hydrogen AS.
Gunnar Larsen, CEO of the Havyard Group, noted that hydrogen will have to play a role if the Norwegian authorities and IMO’s goal of a 50% reduction in marine emissions is to be achieved.
“We are seeing increasing interest in the market for hydrogen. This form of energy produces zero emissions at the same time as it is the most technologically mature for large vessels sailing over relatively long distances. With our know-how and expertise in hydrogen, we are in an excellent position to be among the leading players in the development and delivery of hydrogen systems. We are therefore establishing Havyard Hydrogen AS to offer customers a complete solution for hydrogen-powered ships.”
Havyard Hydrogen will be the system integrator and will deliver complete hydrogen energy systems for ships in cooperation with partners and subcontractors. “In cooperation with other companies in the Group, we can also deliver ship designs and complete control and energy systems, from bridge to propeller,” added Larsen.
Kristian Osnes from Havyard’s R&D department will be executive vice president of the new company. He remarked that much of the Group’s research work has focused on large-scale systems, unlike previous maritime hydrogen projects, which have concentrated on lower output and smaller vessels.
“We can now offer a system with 3.2MW fuel cells,” Osnes said. “This will make it possible for large vessels to sail with zero emissions over longer distances. At the same time, the system is scalable and can be used by both large and small vessels