ExpectedOutcome:

To date the shipping industry when compared to country-based emissions is the 6th largest emitter of CO2, with a total yield in the range of 900 million tons of CO2 per year. It was, as well, estimated that without action the global share of shipping's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions may reach 17 % by 2050. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) adopted an initial GHG reduction strategy in 2018 with the revision planned for July 2023. The IMO initially set a target to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 50% in 2050. Upon revision, the goals were enhanced to reach the reduction levels of 20% and striving for 30% by 2030 and 70% and striving for 80% by 2040 when compared to 2008 emissions (50 % of reduction in terms of the expected sector growth). In parallel to this the EU objective of climate neutrality by 2050 will also require innovations in shipping, including the supply and use of sustainable climate neutral marine fuels as well as the associated port, storage and bunkering infrastructures. As ships in short sea shipping have generally an age of 30 years and the average age of inland ships is above 40 years [https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/285405,https://www.forschungsinformationssystem.de/servlet/is/123471/] the waterborne transport industry faces the enormous task of implementing urgent actions needed to achieve these goals in time.

To achieve the aforementioned goals, it is important to change the mean of powering vessels, using renewable-based fuels such as hydrogen or its carriers. The consideration of various alternatives is inherent as they entail individual advantages and challenges regarding safety, handling, efficiency, volumetric energy density and cost-efficient storage.

To cope with this endeavour, innovative solutions that offer adequate vessel autonomy while minimising the risks and the challenges pertaining to its storage and transportation are needed. Such solutions should address bunkering, on-board storage, power conversion and propulsion and as well consider, the current industrial standards in manufacturing, transportation, storing and safe handling of hydrogen or the hydrogen carrier involved.

• Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Reducing GHG and local emissions from waterborne transport in line with prevailing targets;
• Enabling and facilitate further deployment in hydrogen-powered shipping, ensuring safety underpinned by the necessary onshore norms and regulations (protocols and standards);
• Developing pertinent technical standards and methods for the validation of hydrogen or its carriers' equipment and system;
• Developing a European supply chain and thereby consolidating the European industry's competitiveness in zero emission waterborne transport;
• Increasing public awareness and acceptance of hydrogen technologies;
• Developing the use of hydrogen (and its carriers) for waterborne transport applications according to the pillars hydrogen distribution and Hydrogen End uses of the SRIA of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership;
• Involving a wider range of stakeholders (e.g., ship designers, ship builders, ship owners, port authorities, classification societies, etc.), to accelerate the transition to zero emission shipping.

Project results are expected to contribute to the following objectives and KPIs of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA:

• In-ship system CAPEX [€/kW]: 2,000 in 2024 and 1,500 in 2030;
• Expected system lifetime [h]: 40,000 in 2024 and 80,000 in 2030;
• NOx emissions not exceeding 25 ppm of the exhaust gas stream and 30 mgNOx/MJfuel;

Scope:

This topic aims at demonstrating, in an operational environment, fuel cell hydrogen based waterborne transport ecosystem, showing the feasibility and benefits of integrating hydrogen and hydrogen carriers into this hard to abate sector. The overarching goal is to address the ability to safely bunker hydrogen (pure or in terms of a hydrogen carrier), to store it on board and to consume it for propulsion in a waterborne environment.

Proposals should address the demonstration of fuel cell hydrogen powered inland or short sea vessels. Internal combustion engines are excluded.

In addition, proposals should address the following:

• Development and demonstration of a hydrogen ecosystem with at least one port including hydrogen (carrier) logistics, and suitable integrated refuelling/bunkering solution;
• Provision of zero-carbon fuels (hydrogen or its carriers), shore-based infrastructures;
• Assessment of the health hazards and other risks associated with the use of the respective fuel in vessels;
• Selection of a suitable ship segment and technical concept for the demonstration activity, including an adequate propulsion power level for the application;
• Integration and design activities for using the chosen combination of power conversion and storage technologies (e.g., fuel cells and batteries) including hybrid solutions and smart energy/power management systems;
• Assessing and describing how the selected concept represents a modular architecture of the power system, validating the compatibility for scaling up of the power rating to MW scale;
• Development of respective novel BoP configurations encountering various hydrogen carriers, as well as possible on-board carrier-dehydrogenation/generation options;
• Integrate the FC powertrain and the hydrogen / hydrogen-based storage on-board a vessel;
• Integration of the chosen on-board storage solutions below the vessel deck, or swappable fuel tank containers on deck appropriate for a scale of several hundred of kilos to tons.
• Minimal on-board energy storage for operational autonomy of 48h (2 days);
• Operate the vessel under realistic end-user conditions for a duration of at least 1.000 hours;
• Ensuring safe vessel operation and contributing to further develop the regulatory framework;
• Secure the port(s) approval processes for hydrogen / hydrogen-based fuels bunkering and construct the bunkering infrastructure solution;
• Establish the technical and economic feasibility for replication and scale up in European ports.
• Enable standardisation & regulation of the technology on vessels and within ports to create the right regulation framework for the investment in vessels and infrastructure;
• Provide instrumentation and generate detailed open access data for all relevant operations including hydrogen storage, bunkering, sailing etc. for development of new generation of modelling tools and protocols.
• Assessment and quantification of the environmental impact of the demonstration itself (in terms of reduction on GHG emissions during demonstration) as well as the potential GHG emission reduction in Europe upon a full deployment of the solution in the selected maritime transport segment. Such issues shall already be covered in the proposal phase, to facilitate a fair and adequate evaluation.

Proposals are encouraged to consider, for the vessels to be demonstrated, system prototypes developed in previous project related to the application of FC modules to heavy duty applications such as e.g. Standard-Sized Heavy-duty Hydrogen (StaSHH).

Proposals should build on and develop synergies with former EU-funded projects such as RH2IWER, FLAGSHIPS, H2Ports or EVERYWH2ERE, as well as with relevant Zero Emission Waterborne Transport Partnership (ZEWT) activities, focusing on remaining gaps not covered in these projects. In particular, duplication with the activities in the RH2IWER project should be avoided.

Proposals are encouraged to explore synergies with the Zero Emission Waterborne Transport (ZEWT) Partnership, specially on the activities regarding the integration of the FC powertrain and the hydrogen / hydrogen-based storage on-board a vessel. Moreover, applicants are encouraged to explore synergies with other programmes, especially with funding from CEF-T The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Transport (CEF-T).

This topic is expected to contribute to EU competitiveness and industrial leadership by supporting a European value chain for hydrogen and fuel cell systems and components.

It is expected that Guarantees of origin (GOs) will be used to prove the renewable character of the hydrogen that is used. In this respect consortium may seek out the purchase and subsequent cancellation of GOs from the relevant Member State issuing body and if that is not yet available the consortium may proceed with the issuance and cancellation of non-governmental certificates (e.g CertifHy).

Proposals should provide a preliminary draft on ‘hydrogen safety planning and management’ at the project level, which will be further updated during project implementation.

For additional elements applicable to all topics please refer to section 2.2.3.2.

Activities are expected to start at TRL 5 and achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project - see General Annex B.

At least one partner in the consortium must be a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research.

The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 6.00 million – proposals requesting Clean Hydrogen JU contributions above this amount will not be evaluated.

Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must be declared as depreciation costs. However, for the following equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks): vessels, fuel cell system, on-board hydrogen storage and other components needed in a hydrogen fuel cell hydrogen vessel, costs may exceptionally be declared as full capitalised costs.

The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2024 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.

Activities are expected to start at TRL 5 and achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project - See General Annex B.