South Korean fuel cell manufacturer Doosan Fuel Cell is collaborating with Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) to develop solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) for ships.
On 18 March 2021, the partners signed a memorandum of agreement (MoU) at Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Research Institute.
According to the deal, Doosan Fuel Cell will design and produce fuel cells, while KSOE will develop technologies to use fuel cells on board vessels.
Commenting on the collaboration, Moon Sang-jin, managing director of Doosan Fuel Cell commented that the fuel cell for ships can replace the existing power generation engine, as well as the main propulsion engine.
Doosan Fuel Cell decided to develop a SOFC in October last y ear and plans commercial production of the system from 2024 as part of a Korean government project.
In November 2020, the company also signed an MoU with Navig8 to develop fuel cells for ships. The collaboration will see Doosan Fuel Cell installing SOFC on a 50,000-ton petrochemical product carrier owned by Navig8.
Remaining in the field of fuel cells, in February, Australian Global Energy Ventures (GEV) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ballard Power Systems for the development of a new fuel cell-powered ship, the C-H2 Ship, designed to transport compressed green hydrogen.
The power required for a small-scale demonstration of the C-H2 Ship is expected to be under 10 MW, Ballard explained. At full scale, the C-H2 Ship will have a propulsion power requirement of approximately 26MW, and a containment system for storage of 2,000 tons of compressed green hydrogen.
Today, hydrogen is gaining popularity as the pillar for the next generation of renewable energy sources to achieve ‘net-zero carbon’ targets. Numerous governments and corporations have now mandated that the future production of hydrogen will focus on green hydrogen using clean, renewable energy.