Shell and Hyundai Heavy plot marine fuel cell rollout
Shell has come onboard a Korean maritime fuel cell project. The Anglo-Dutch energy giant is joining Doosan Fuel Cell and Hyundai Heavy Industries in a bid to commercialise the use of solid oxide fuel cell systems at sea by 2025. The consortium will test a 600-kilowatt system as an auxiliary power unit on actual trade routes for more than a year. The plan is to get a shipowner and a class society involved in the project soon too.
“The three-way partnership is an important starting point for Doosan Fuel Cell to speed up its marine fuel cell business and preempt the market,” CEO Chung Hyung-rak said.
Other South Korean shipbuilders including Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering are also at an advanced stage in terms of deploying fuel cells on ships.