ExpectedOutcome:
Hydrogen as fuel for the maritime sector could be pivotal to foster global maritime decarbonisation as it has significant advantages compared to pure battery electric propulsion. However, such maritime applications require higher power and much longer lifetimes than those developed and achieved so far by state-of-the-art FC stack/systems. In this sense, projects should still validate in relevant environment and according to real end-users needs and load profiles, high power and long-lasting FC stacks to be in the future building blocks of >10 MW FC systems for maritime applications.
Project results are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:
Project results are expected to contribute to the following objectives and KPIs of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA for fuel cell technology for maritime sector:
Following the validation of “marine ready” and reliable FC stacks (able to operate in multi-modal-modular systems) the proposed project should lay the foundations for future developments of fuel cell system for maritime applications.
Scope:Proposals should cover the development of a high-power stack for maritime applications and should address in particular either PEM or Solid Oxide technologies, which are considered the most promising technologies for maritime sector as already proven by the already funded projects MARANDA[1], HyShip[2], FLAGSHIPS[3], and ShipFC.
A large FC stack for maritime applications should be developed by the end of the project according to either one of the following minimum requirements:
or
Above mentioned power capacity levels should be targeted at single stack level (not at subsystem level, overcoming stacks currently validated in the projects HyShip, FLAGSHIPS, MARANDA and ShipFC) with a robust testing campaign to prove stack reliability.
Research should be undertaken based on the newly developed stacks in view of outlining a pathway for a fuel cell system of high power (multi-MW range) that can be adapted to maritime applications (building on the project outcomes and integrating stacks developed in this project), with spill overs towards stationary applications.
Each project should develop one stack technology (PEM or SO) and therefore, at least one FC stack manufacturer should be part of the consortium.
For this purpose, the stack should be developed and validated in relevant environment (at the end of the project, each stack should reach at minimum TRL 6 considering:
Development of a full FC system is not expected at this stage, the focus should be at stack level where versatility (in terms of responsiveness to load demand of different on-board services and type of vessels) is key. Nevertheless, the proposed solutions should be conceived as multi-modular connected stacks. Development of a proper power electronics/conversion architecture to be developed hand-in-hand with proposed stack and development of single stack to be used into the connected stack system below should be integral part of the project. Therefore, the following specifications should be considered:
Looking at future development and on-board integration, the following activities should be envisaged:
Cooperation with FC application in other maritime or similar projects is expected (such as StaSHH, HyShip, FLAGSHIPS, MARANDA, ShipFC, etc.) in order to start from their results on stack design. Proposals are expected to explore synergies with the activities of ZEWT partnership.
While designing the FC stack, applicants should apply a ‘circularity by design’ approach and assess the sustainability of the proposed solutions from a life cycle perspective (also benchmarking it with batteries and other FCs not investigated in design/demonstration). e.g. should estimate the carbon footprint expressed in gr CO2-eq/kWhel.
Activities developing test protocols and procedures for the performance and durability assessment of electrolysers and fuel cell components proposals should foresee a collaboration mechanism with JRC (see section 2.2.4.3 "Collaboration with JRC"), in order to support EU-wide harmonisation. Test activities should adopt the already published EU harmonised testing protocols[5] to benchmark performance and quantify progress at programme level.
Activities are expected to start at TRL 4 and achieve TRL 6 by the end of the project - see General Annex B.
The JU estimates that an EU contribution of maximum EUR 7.50 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately.
The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2023 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023–2024 which apply mutatis mutandis.
Specific Topic Conditions:Activities are expected to start at TRL 4 and achieve TRL 6 by the end of the project - see General Annex B.
[1]https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/735717/es
[2]https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101007205
[3]https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/826215
[5]https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/knowledge-management/collaboration-jrc-0_en