Sailing towards zero emissions with ammonia
The Norwegian Maritime Authority has confirmed the feasibility of the ammonia fuel system designed for the platform supply vessel Viking Energy owned by Norwegian company Eidesvik. The initial approval is a significant milestone for the EU-funded ShipFC project, whose goal is to demonstrate that long-range zero-emission voyages with high power are possible on larger ships. “The Norwegian Maritime Authority has confidently issued a preliminary assessment to Eidesvik AS for their vessel Viking Energy. This is one of the few vessels that have progressed this far in the approval process with us,” remarks Ivar Ingvaldsen of Norwegian Maritime Authority’s Section of New Maritime Technology in a news item posted on the ShipFC website. “The Norwegian Maritime Authority hopes this project marks the beginning of the green transition within the offshore segment.” Built in 2003, the Viking Energy is the world’s first cargo vessel fuelled by liquid natural gas (LNG) and is equipped with four Wärtsilä dual-fuel engines that enable it to run on LNG and marine diesel oil. The offshore vessel is 94.9 metres long and 20.4 metres wide, and has an LNG tank capacity of 220 cubic metres.
Going green
ShipFC partners plan to retrofit the vessel with an ammonia fuel system that will directly feed 2 MW of solid-oxide fuel cells. This will allow the Viking Energy to sail long distances on clean fuel for up to 3 000 hours annually. The ammonia used as fuel for the system will be produced by electrolysis at the green ammonia pilot plant of Norwegian project partner Yara Clean Ammonia. By demonstrating the use of green ammonia as a maritime fuel, ShipFC hopes to boost green ammonia production capacity in the years ahead. This will help lower costs and establish ammonia as a zero-emission fuel capable of meeting at least part of the maritime industry’s future energy demand, bringing us another step closer to a greener society.
Looking to the future
“This is a very important milestone, recognizing the significant work invested in the ShipFC project. It demonstrates that everything we have planned in this pioneering project is feasible from a regulatory perspective,” states Lars Vestbøstad, Technical Development Manager at project partner Eidesvik. Now that the ammonia fuel system design has been approved, the partners can get on with retrofitting and deploying the platform supply vessel. The Viking Energy will be operated by Norwegian state-owned energy giant Equinor, which recently extended its contract with Eidesvik to use the vessel for another 5 years. The ShipFC (Piloting Multi MW Ammonia Ship Fuel Cells) project is also studying three other vessel types for ammonia-powered fuel cell deployment. These include a bunker vessel, a cargo vessel and the North Sea Shipping construction vessel North Sea Giant. For more information, please see: ShipFC project website
Keywords
ShipFC, ammonia, fuel, green ammonia, ammonia fuel system, platform supply vessel, offshore, zero emission, solid-oxide fuel cell
