By the end of the final reporting period, the project had successfully delivered on all of it goals.
The vessel powerplant had been designed, constructed and tested - producing performance results whihc were better than had been expected (higher fuel conversion efficiency). System management strategies had been developed and it had been established how to operate the system most efficiently.
Vessel design had been completed and Approval in Principle (for the design) had been obtained from a Classification Society (DNV).
A scalable model had been developed to enable the technical specification of refuelling equipment for marine H2 fuelling to be established. Even small vessels use much more fuel than road vehicles and transferring large volumes of H2 (100s of kilos and more) presents different physical challenges to filling a road vehicle tank with 2-10kg (typically). That problem was studied in detail resulting in the model mentioned, along with strategies for adapting existing road-transport refuelling equipment to service the marine sector.
A full lifecycle analysis model was developed for comparing diesel (MGO), diesel electric hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell electric powered vessels. Full lifecycle analysis goes beyond carbon emissions and looks at all environmental impacts. Derivative modelling looked at the lifetime cost of owning and operating the vessel types - as expected the hydrogen fuel cell model is more expensive, however none of the fossil fuelled varinats could compete on enviromental grounds (c.80% less carbon emissions - re this also includes the relevant steel, glass, plastic etc supply emissions). It was found that the hydrogen fuel cell variant generated additional socio-economic benefits - partly offsetting the additional costs. It could be readily concluded that the lack of any meaningful carbon-pricing on fossil fuels will make it difficult for green alternatives to find purchase - and without that, it will take legislation to force change.
A hydrogen safety incident occurred during the power plant commissioning. An insufficiently tightened connection allowed the escape of a limited amount of hydrogen. Project safety planning and procedures worked as intended. There was no fire or explosion, no harm was caused to persons or hardware. Credit for the correct handling of this goes to those directly involved and also to those involved in the excellent planning for safety. Full emergency procedure was initiated involving local emergency services and the incident attracted some local press interest – largely positive. Local emergency services are using the incident as an exemplar of how to handle such situations correctly.
On dissemination: The project was represented at COP26, the BBC produced and published out web material on it, the Norwegian Trade Minister formally launched the power plant testing phase (covered on Evening TV news in Norway). The project is mentioned in UK and Scottish government development policy documents. The project website (www.hyseas3.eu) saw around 40,000 unique visitors who were mostly reading it rather than finding it (from time spent on site). The project made available a virtual reality walk through of its vessel power plant (first ever).
Several new and now commercially available products derived from the project - KMA now offer a range of new power electronics components, while Ballard Power Systems brough the world's first marine approved/certified (DNV) hydrogen fuel cell module to market - the FC Wave200 module. Sales of those new products to external parties had occured before the project formally ended.
In summary, the project acheived all of its key goals and indeed exceeded some of the team's expectations.
