World’s First Autonomous Liquid Hydrogen Vessel Gets £3.8 Million From The UK Govt

The UK Government has reportedly awarded £3.8 million in funding to a consortium that is attempting to come up with the first-ever autonomous liquid hydrogen vessel and a unique bunkering infrastructure in the world.

The £5.4 million assignment from the Hydrogen Innovation–Future Innovation and Vessel Evaluation and Demonstration (better known as HI-FIVED), led by Unitrove and ACUA.

Ocean envisions building and demonstrating a bunkering infrastructure and autonomous vessel technologies for liquid hydrogen to result in the decarbonization of the maritime industry.

Unitrove is expected to deploy mobile fueling technology in the Port of Aberdeen in support of ACUA’s proposal for building and managing the first-ever maritime autonomous surface ship in the world to be fuelled by liquid hydrogen and delivered in 2024 by autumn.

This initiative is further envisaged to build a domestic and green maritime corridor between ad the Orkney and Shetland Islands and Aberdeen, with freight transported by hydrogen-powered autonomous vessels.

The Port of Aberdeen, Zero Emissions Maritime Technologies, the University of Southampton, NASH Maritime, Trident Marine Electrical, and Composite Manufacture and Design are part of the HI-FIVED consortium.

The HI-FIVED assignment, funded by the Department of Transport’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 3 (CMDC3) of the UK in association with Innovate UK, is intended to assist in decarbonization when it comes to UK shipping.

The government reportedly committed £60 million as part of the CMDC3 to 19 flagship assignments sponsored by 92 UK organizations to deliver real-world demonstrations of R&D initiatives in clean maritime solutions. Projects will be held in sites across the UK, from the Shetland Islands to Cornwall.

References: UniTrove, Business Magazine, Safety4Sea