“Paving the way towards decarbonising the marine sector” (EMEC, 2018)
The use of green hydrogen as a fuel for ferries is a new avenue, one that has never been carried out commercially in the UK. But off the remote archipelago of Orkney located 10 miles north of mainland Scotland, the ‘living laboratory’ provides the ideal location for this future development. At the forefront of renewable energy uptake, Orkney is a producer and supplier of green hydrogen. This archipelago enables the future of hydrogen as its fuel source and accelerating the hydrogen economy.
It is in this living laboratory of an island that the first trials of hydrogen fuelled ferries have been tried through the HyDIME and the current HySEAS III project underway. The geographical and societal nature of Orkney creates the ideal environment for the innovative embodiment of energy and hence provides the requirements for a successful technological shift to hydrogen ferries.
In the transport network, the implementation of hydrogen has not been without its concerns. Since marine transport is currently the greatest consumer of fossil fuels, green hydrogen fuel implementation is a logical direction to take, even more aptly timed with Orkney’s ageing fleet (Watts, 2020). This provides an opportunity to decarbonise the marine transport sector that connects the islands. The marine transport highway service that ferries provide, breaks down spatial and geographical boundaries of the island. As stated by OIF (2018):
“Orkney islands council and the Ferry services are very proud to be part of this ground-breaking projects; which may lead the way in reducing the many forms of pollutants released when using hydrocarbons and lead onto communities producing some of the energy for their own transport”.
However, while Orkney is leading the way in cutting edge technological innovation of renewable energy, the implementation of a green hydrogen fleet is not without its limitations. The majority of which arise from the high barriers posed by policy and regulation. Furthermore, there are many safety and hazard concerns around hydrogen as a fuel, meaning additional checks are required to be conducted, including HAZID (Hazard Identification) and HAZOP (Hazard and Operation) studies. Moreover, there is a lack of formalised training in place for dealing with hydrogen as a fuel. As such the crew currently must undergo a “five-day course specifically about LNG, because LNG is the only certifiable qualification” (Ainsworth, 2020 interview). However, hydrogen is a very different gas making this training almost null and void. All of which exasperates the expense of hydrogen as a fuel.
Hydrogen is classed under the international maritime dangerous goods (IMDG) regulations. This places constraints over the movement of hydrogen in relation to passengers onboard a ferry. However, the development of hydrogen fuelled ferries has fewer regulations allowing for hydrogen to be stored on a ferry operating at passenger capacity.
While hydrogen faces many limitations within its early stages of development, and implementation as a fuel, it shows a promising future. This is enhanced through public and investors interested in the new age fuel, generating a source of funding and acceptance. Thus, changing how we see marine energy infrastructure as green hydrogen becomes embedded in community practice, building upon an already installed bases by embedding the new into the old.
Orkney is leading the way in research, development and utilisation of the hydrogen potential. These projects are not without challenges, which predominantly arise from policy, regulations, and funding. However, through acknowledging and reconceptualising the boundaries facing this fuel source, there is a vast expanse for future implementation within the ferry fleet and transport more widely. While hydrogen use has been explored within Orkney, this location faces different sociotechnical boundaries than other places in and around the UK. Future research into how this narrative of green hydrogen as a source of transport fuel could, and or is, being implemented in other countries is required. Bringing about the question, is a hydrogen marine highway the future?
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