ShipFC H2020 Project

The project will see an offshore vessel, Viking Energy, which is owned and operated by Eidesvik and on contract to energy major Equinor, have a large 2MW ammonia fuel cell retrofitted, allowing it to sail solely on the clean fuel for up to 3,000 hours annually. The ammonia used in the energy system will be produced by electrolysis. Ammonia is an abundant energy source and can easily be made from renewable resources making it one of the fuels that will likely meet part of shipping’s future energy demand. The goal of the project is also to ensure that a large fuel cell can deliver total electric power to shipboards systems safely and effectively. A significant part of the project will be the scale up of a 100-kilowatt fuel cell to 2 megawatts. The ammonia fuel cell system will be installed in Viking Energy in late 2023 and this is the first time an ammonia-powered fuel-cell will be installed on a vessel. Another part of the ShipFC project will perform studies on three other vessel types, namely offshore construction vessels and two cargo vessel types, to illustrate the ability to transfer this technology to other segments of the shipping industry.