Hydrogen: the fuel of the future?
“Pave the way for the decarbonization of the maritime sector” (EMEC, 2018)
Using green hydrogen as a fuel for ferries is a new avenue, which has never been commercially exploited in the UK. But off the remote archipelago of Orkney located 10 miles north of mainland Scotland, the ‘living laboratory’ offers the perfect location for this future development. At the forefront of renewable energy adoption, Orkney is a producer and supplier of green hydrogen. This archipelago enables the future of hydrogen as a fuel source and the acceleration of the hydrogen economy.
It was in this living laboratory on an island that the first trials of hydrogen ferries were attempted through the HyDIME and the current ongoing HySEAS III project. The geographical and societal nature of Orkney creates the ideal environment for the innovative embodiment of energy and therefore provides the conditions required for a successful technological transition to hydrogen ferries.
In the transport network, the implementation of hydrogen has not been without problems. Given that shipping is currently the largest consumer of fossil fuels, implementing green hydrogen is a logical direction to take, even more timely with Orkney’s aging fleet (Watts, 2020). This provides an opportunity to decarbonize the shipping sector that connects the islands. The maritime transport road service provided by the ferries breaks the spatial and geographical boundaries of the island. As stated by OIF (2018):
“Orkney Islands Council and Ferry Services are very proud to be part of these groundbreaking projects; which can pave the way for the reduction of the many forms of pollutants released during the use of hydrocarbons and lead communities to produce part of the energy for their own transport”.
However, while Orkney is leading the way in cutting-edge renewable energy technology innovation, the implementation of a green hydrogen fleet is not without its limits. The majority of them stem from the high barriers posed by policy and regulation. In addition, hydrogen as a fuel has many safety and hazard issues, which means that additional checks must be carried out, including HAZID (Hazard Identification) and HAZOP (Hazard and Operation) studies. Additionally, there is a lack of formalized training in place to deal with hydrogen as a fuel. As such, crew must currently complete a “five-day course specifically on LNG, as LNG is the only certifiable qualification” (Ainsworth, 2020 interview). However, hydrogen is a very different gas making this formation almost null and void. All of this exacerbates the cost of hydrogen as a fuel.
Hydrogen is classified according to the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) regulations. This places constraints on the movement of hydrogen relative to passengers on board a ferry. However, the development of hydrogen-powered ferries has fewer regulations allowing hydrogen storage on a ferry operating at passenger capacity.
While hydrogen faces many limitations in its early stages of development and implementation as a fuel, it shows a promising future. This is reinforced by the public and investors interested in the fuel of the new era, generating a source of funding and acceptance. So changing the way we view marine energy infrastructure as green hydrogen fits into community practice, building on the foundations already in place by integrating the new into the old.
Orkney is at the forefront of researching, developing and utilizing the potential of hydrogen. These projects are not without challenges, which stem mainly from policies, regulations and funding. However, by recognizing and re-conceptualizing the limitations this fuel source faces, there is vast scope for future implementation within the ferry fleet and transport more broadly. While the use of hydrogen has been explored in Orkney, this location faces different socio-technical frontiers than other locations in and around the UK. Future research on how this narrative of green hydrogen as a transportation fuel source could, and is, being implemented in other countries is needed. Raising the question, is a hydrogen marine highway the future?