Maritime classification society Lloyd’s Register has been brought in to coordinate a project to research and develop renewable energy ship propulsion technologies.
REShiP (Renewable Energy Ship Propulsion), as the project is known, started in April 2019 with the aim of identifying the best solutions connected with the shipboard installation of an innovative power generation system for propulsion and on-board use, with an almost total reduction of both pollutants and noise emitted.
Co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the project activities are aligned with the IMO regulations concerning the limits on NOx, SOx and particulate (PM) emissions.
According to Lloyd’s Register, technologies for the electric energy production with a low environment impact relying on fuel cells will be studied in particular.
Furthermore, after an assessment of the different types of fuels to be used onboard, the project aims to develop a fuel cell system and a small-scale prototype with a correlated study for installation on board.
The objective is to design a complete and certified system assembled on a skid easy to install even in the case of a retrofit, that will be also certified for the on-board installation. An overall design plan will be developed for the construction of a medium-small size passenger transport vessel (150-200 passengers) that could be scaled up to cruise ships and with the expected estimate of reducing the energy consumption up to 10% while completely eliminating local NOx, SOx, PM and CO2 emissions.