IEEE Electrification Magazine - June 2020 - 32

TABLE 2. Examples of fuel cell projects for marine propulsion.
Project

FC Type

Type of Vessel

FC Power Rating

R&D Partners

Fuel

FellowSHIP

MCFC

Offshore supply
vessel

320 kW

DNV-GL and Wartsila

LNG

FCSHIP

MCFC
SOFC
PEMFC

Passenger ferry

Up to 1 MW

DNV-GL

Hydrogen for PEMs
Hydrocarbons for
MCFCs and SOFCs

ZEMSHIP

PEMFC

Passenger ferry

96 kW

Proton Motor

Hydrogen

Nemo H2

PEMFC

Passenger ferry

60 kW

Alewijnse

Hydrogen

MARANDA

PEMFC

Research vessel

Two 82.5 kW
(165 kW)

ABB and VTT

Hydrogen

Raicho Project for
Next-Generation -Water
-Transportation

PEMFC

Research vessel

30 kW

Tokyo University of
Marine Science and
Technology and Toshiba

Hydrogen

Hybrid Power
Lab at NTNU

PEMFC

Laboratory
scale demo

Two 30 kW
(60 kW)

ABB, SINTEF Ocean,
NTNU

Hydrogen

The superstructure of the Viking Lady made it an
attractive test platform to ensure the successful implementation and integration of FC technology with traditional machinery. Finally, the MCFC, operating at 650 °C
was successfully installed, and it operated smoothly for
more than 7,000 h onboard with no detectable CO 2, NO X ,
or PM emissions. The MCFC delivers a dc voltage ranging
from 380 to 520 V. At full load, the maximum electrical
efficiency was 52%. Under the FellowSHIP project, the
model of the system, which enabled the designers to predict the physical behavior of the MCFC, was created. The
main purpose of the modeling was to predict FC performance under load changes. The Viking Lady with the
Fellowship installation was the first vessel to use hightemperature FC technology and obtain the certificate
with FC-safety notation.

FC Technology for Ships
FC Technology for Ships (FCSHIP) was a European Union
shared-cost research and technological development project
in 2002, with a two-year duration; there were 21 partners
from several countries, and the main coordinator was the
Norwegian Shipowners Association. The project provided a
comprehensive study on the technical feasibility, efficiency,
and environmental and economic aspects of marine-related
FC research and development. The results from FCSHIP evaluated the safety and operational demands for the maritime
application of FCs. Three different types of FCs were investigated, including MCFCs, SOFCs, and PEMs. During this project, no fundamental obstacles to the integration of FCs into a
commercial ship were found. It was concluded that some
safety and operational requirements should be met to use
hydrogen FCs onboard. For instance, it was claimed that, in
the case of using liquid fuels based on hydrocarbons for MCFCs and SOFCs, those FCs
should operate in the low megawatt range.

Zero Emissions Ships

Figure 4. The installation of an FC on the offshore supply vessel Viking Lady. (Source:
Eidesvik AS; used with permission.)

I E E E E l e c t r i f i cati o n M agaz ine / J UN E 2020

During the last decade, hydrogen boats
have been used to transfer passengers,
beginning with Zero Emissions Ships
(ZEMSHIP), a 100-passenger hydrogen ship.
In this project, a hybrid propulsion system,
including two FCs of 48 kW each and a battery (360 Ah at 560 V), was used instead of
a diesel-electric system to test the efficiency as well as the corresponding infrastructure needed for using hydrogen as a fuel.
Twelve hydrogen tanks at 350 bar were
used, which typically corresponds to an
operating period of three days. Although
the vessel was dramatically damaged in a

IEEE Electrification Magazine - June 2020

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