Last week THRUST attended the conference Maritime Hydrogen & Marine Energy in Florø, Norway.
Arriving by ferry through the fjords showed the great opportunity zero-emission transport over water offers in Scandinavia. Besides global impact, it is important for the Norwegians to keep the fjords, some of them World Heritage sites, as clean as possible. The Norwegian government is leading the transition to a cleaner energy system by stimulating the use of electric vehicles and introduction of hydrogen-fuelled ferries. At the same time, however, it will only quit burning flaregas at oil & gas production sites in 2030. Seeing the flaregas being burnt on the horizon put things into perspective and made us realise that more urgent action is required, even in Norway.
In Florø the global maritime & hydrogen community gathered last week to discuss progress and opportunities for the sector around the globe. The conference was preceded by a workshop meeting of the International Energy Agency, Hydrogen in Marine Applications (IEA-HIA task 39). THRUST had the opportunity to present the programme and learn more about the activities of other participants. Several alternative fuels for marine application were discussed, as well as the main bottlenecks participants saw towards a zero-emission maritime transport industry. Concretely, the preparation of two white papers on 1) Safety & Regulations and 2) Port Logistics that should inform the International Maritime Organization (IMO) via the IEA were discussed.
The next day the Maritime Hydrogen & Marine Energy conference started with presentations on ‘The World’s first ship driven by LH2’ and two European projects, one in Lyon, France (gaseous hydrogen) and one in Stavanger, Norway (liquified hydrogen). Mr. Pandey, Vice Chairman of the India Waterways Authority explained the ambitions of India in setting up cleaner transport via their waterways in his presentation ‘Inland Water Transport Scenario in India’.
Day two included an analysis of the recent hydrogen incident in Norway by the company leading the investigation, a modelling exercise by the Fraunhofer Institute; ‘Transition pathways to zero-emission shipping’ and the work of the Zero Emission Ship Technology Association (ZESTAS), emphasising the importance of the development of a regulatory framework for zero-emission technologies in the maritime sector.
Several ongoing pilot projects were presented after the coffee break, including Future Proof Shipping. Maarten presented how THRUST works on ‘Creating a zero-emission business case… TODAY’.
All-in-all a very useful couple of days to connect with our fellow frontrunners towards zero-emission transport over water. Many new contacts that will allow for synergies between projects, collaboration on research and acceleration of zero-emission business models.
For all presentations click here.
