Hydrogen powered ferry results in twice the CO2 emissions of existing ferry

https://cleantechnica.com/2024/12/12/hydrogen-ships-are-seeing-same-pattern-as-all-hydrogen-fleets/ Yhe hydrogen is produced in Germany, and trucked to norway at a great carbon impact. By contrast, delivering electricity to the 80 or so electric ferries doesn’t require any diesel trucks driving four days back and forth, doesn’t leak any green house gases and doesn’t lose 80% of the energy that’s put into it to electrolyzer efficiency, liquification energy requirements, boil off and leakage. They plug in at the docks using Norway’s 30 grams CO2e per kWh electricity, 10% of the carbon intensity of German’s because of all the hydropower. Those 80 ferries are vastly reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of ferry trips, and at much lower expense and complexity. An MF Hydra size ferry powered by batteries charged with Norway’s green electricity would likely emit about 50 tons of CO2e per year dam-to-wake, a huge improvement over diesel and a massive improvement over hydrogen. This is on top of the very significant energy cost differences of making hydrogen at Germany’s higher electricity rates, throwing away most of it between electrolyzer, compression, liquification and fuel cell inefficiencies, compounded by so much of it leaking. Industrial electricity rates are roughly double in Germany and about five times as much is required per kilometer of ferry movement, so energy costs are about ten times for the hydrogen ferry as for comparable battery electric ferries. These really weird energy costs, waste and distances are par for the course for hydrogen fleet trials by the way. When Canada trialed hydrogen buses at the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort starting with the 2010 Winter Olympics, green hydrogen was trucked in from Quebec, 4,500 kilometers away, requiring about the same amount of diesel burnt just to deliver the hydrogen for the distances the buses traveled. It’s hard to say how the MF Hydra got through business casing, but one assumes it wasn’t a rational and clear decision, and inevitably the ferry will be converted to much cheaper battery electric like the rest of Norway’s fjord-crossing fleet. The MF Hydra example is a good one because this article was triggered by the bankruptcy of Norwegian company TECO, with its hydrogen fuel cell technology for maritime applications. The filings were driven by financial strain, including a bankruptcy petition from the Norwegian Tax Authority and difficulties securing capital. The company cited delays in Norway’s zero-emission regulations for cruise ships as a factor that hindered market opportunities. I assume that zero-emission regulations were looking at the reality of hydrogen value chain emissions and that was a problem for the firm. After all, in the best possible case scenario, a ship running on green hydrogen made with Norway’s electricity would cost three to four times as much to fuel and have three to four times the emissions per kilometer traveled. That’s before leakage, which makes things worse. The redundantly named H2 Barge 2, formerly known as FPS Waal, began operating on the Rhine between Rotterdam and Duisburg in 2023. The retrofitted, 200-unit, 140-kilometer route, container cargo vessel features six 200kW fuel cells from Ballard Power Systems. The project faces challenges, including high operating costs, limited hydrogen refueling infrastructure, and delays in regulatory frameworks supporting hydrogen adoption. As a reminder, there are two 700-unit container ships powered entirely by batteries covering 1,000 kilometers on the Yangtze with swappable, containerized batteries sprinkled up and down the river at ports.