Consortium delivers hydrogen shore power

PSW Power & Automation, Westgass Hydrogen, CCB and H2 Production demonstrated their pilot system at CCB’s shipyard this week, charging the platform supply vessel Havila Foresight, which is chartered by Equinor.

“It is important that ports across the country offer zero-carbon solutions to the maritime sector,” said Jan-Dagfinn Lund, CEO at CCB. ”Shore power can be a quick and easy win, and we want to provide clean energy to our customers. However, grid capacity is an issue – there is simply not enough to satisfy megawatt scale demand. We need to speed up this work to reach the goals that have been set.”

It will be piloted over the autumn, the consortium says, using hydrogen sourced by Westgass. Future clean hydrogen will be supplied by H2 Production at its Energy Park in Øygarden. PSW is the electrical system and storage designer and integrator.

“It’s quite incredible. When the ships turned off their engines and switched to the shore power facilities, all you could see was some steam from the generator. No noise, no fumes. It is important to society and our environment to see more of this going forward,” said Tom Georg Indrevik, Mayor of Øygarden.

PSW’s system works by using the clean hydrogen to drive fuel cell generators, which then generate electricity for supply boats, cruise ships, drilling rigs and fish farms.

“This supply of electricity can then be integrated into existing grid connected facilities, or work on a standalone basis for a complete off-grid offering,” says Eirik Sørensen, general manager at PSW Power & Automation. ”The system generates no pollutants, with its only other outputs being steam and heat. This solution is the first of its kind in a commercial setting.”

Westgass is developing a nationwide network for the delivery of clean hydrogen, it says.