ABB to Develop Hydrogen Fuel Cell for Ships

by Ship & Bunker News Team

The two companies will work together on producing the fuel cell systems. Image Credit: ABB

Technology company ABB has signed a memorandum of understanding with hydrogen technology specialist Hydrogène de France to develop fuel cell systems for ships, the company said Wednesday.

The two companies will collaborate closely on the assembly and production of megawatt-scale fuel cell power plants for ships, ABB said in an emailed statement.

"We are confident that fuel cells will play an important role in helping the marine industry meet CO2 reduction targets," Juha Koskela, managing director for marine and ports at ABB, said in the statement.

"Signing the MOU with HDF brings us a step closer to making this technology available for powering ocean-going vessels."

Hydrogen fuel cells are one of the marine energy systems being proposed as a means of meeting the International Maritime Organization's target of halving the shipping industry's greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The technology is likely to be significantly more expensive than current conventional marine fuels, and will be reliant upon large quantities of renewable power generation capacity being available on land.