EMEA News
Scientific Alliance Scotland Calls Zero Emissions, Hydrogen Powered Ferry "Silly" and "a Waste of Taxpayers' Money"
The Scientific Alliance Scotland (SAS) says labelled Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd's (Caledonian) project proposal to develop a zero emissions hydrogen fuel cell powered ferry as "silly" and "a waste of taxpayers' money," local news reports.
The proposed ferry would be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell that could be recharged while docked overnight, using surplus wind and tidal electricity generated on the islands.
"Hydrogen is just about the worst energy carrier one could imagine particularly as a transport fuel. It is difficult to store or distribute and poses serious explosion risks," said Jack Ponton, a professor with SAS.
"It is in principle a valuable chemical feedstock, but industry is not geared up to use it in large quantities."
Caledonian is said to be preparing to apply for EU funding for the project after an initial feasibility study indicated that the technology was "not impossible".
The initial feasibility study reportedly drew criticism from the SAS, which accused the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise of wasting taxpayers' money after Scottish Enterprise contributed £200,000 ($307,409) to the three-year study.
"Carbon dioxide emissions from island ferries are a negligible part of Scotland's emissions, which are themselves trivial on a global scale. In other words, this scheme is just a silly idea to use up the taxpayers' money," said Ponton of Caledonian's research efforts in low emission ferries.
Andy Crossan, Senior Technical Manager at Caledonian, commenting on the viability of the project, said, "there is growing cross-sector support for the potential use of hydrogen in a marine environment."
"We're exploring the options to make hydrogen fuel a reality in a marine application as can be seen in the applications currently being used effectively for cars and buses both in Europe and North America.
"So far, our work has found no technical reason why we cannot achieve this goal, but we are well aware that there are a number of phases that still have to be conducted to reach a blueprint for a viable sea going ferry application.
"Maritime safety and security is stringent and the use of hydrogen fuel in a marine environment will be equally robust."
In May, DNV GL announced that the 2015 Seatrade Award for clean shipping was awarded to the Norled owned and operated Ampere, the world's first fully electric driven vessel.
