If the recommendation is a “Go,” the study will identify the best paths forward for a successful project. Sandia intends that the feasibility study, regardless of the outcome, can be useful to others nationally and around the world who are looking at hydrogen fuel cell vessels as clean energy alternatives.

The Maritime Administration is committed to finding new and efficient technologies for use in the maritime industry that reduce pollution and protect our environment. This industry continues moving forward on renewable energy and clean-fuel options, and this project encourages a shift toward lower impact maritime fuels that may further green the waterborne link in our national transportation system.

—Maritime Administrator Paul ‘Chip’ Jaenichen

Sandia is leading the study in partnership with Red and White Fleet, the American Bureau of Shipping, the US Coast Guard and naval architect Elliott Bay Design Group. Other contributors include the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Resources Board (ARB) and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.

We are involving so many stakeholders up front because if the feasibility study shows a ‘go’ we want to make sure the next phase has a rock-solid foundation. We hope that the feasibility study, regardless of the outcome, can be useful to others nationally and around the world who are looking at hydrogen fuel cell vessels as clean energy alternatives.

—Joe Pratt, the Sandia project lead

Economic viability is essential to the success of SF-BREEZE. To compete with existing transportation methods—cars, buses, Bay Area Rapid Transit and other ferries—the ferry must be fast. But speed adds complexity.

Rather than a tour boat that would primarily be a demonstration project, Red and White Fleet believes a high-speed passenger ferry makes economic sense. If you are trying to achieve speed, boat weight is important. Fuel cells and hydrogen are heavier than existing diesel engines and fuel, so the question becomes can you build a boat powered by hydrogen fuel cells that is both large and fast enough? The feasibility study will provide that answer.

—Joe Pratt

A preliminary conceptual study shows the answer is probably yes, but it will require a boat specially designed to accommodate hydrogen fuel and the fuel cell technology. A traditional passenger ferry can’t easily be retrofitted with a hydrogen fuel cell, so it was essential to include a naval architect in the feasibility study. The ferry design will include collaboration with the American Bureau of Shipping and the Coast Guard to ensure the final design conforms to safety and reliability rules and regulations.

The world’s largest hydrogen refueling station. The high-speed passenger ferry would use about 1,000 kilograms of hydrogen per day. To put this in perspective, an average hydrogen fuel cell car might use less than 5 kilograms of hydrogen per week.

To support the ferry and other potential users, the refueling station would have a capacity of 1,500 kilograms a day—about twice the size of the largest hydrogen refueling station in the world. It would also be the first hydrogen refueling station to simultaneously serve land and marine uses.

The economy of scale could boost the local hydrogen fuel cell marketplace—a larger station reduces the cost per kilogram of hydrogen, said Pratt. “Higher use will drive down that cost even more.”

Reducing the cost of hydrogen refueling could stimulate the market for hydrogen fuel cell cars and accelerate wider adoption of the technology in other vehicle markets, such as heavy-duty trucks and buses.

Feasibility study will address regulations. SF-BREEZE will enter new regulatory space, both for the high-speed ferry and refueling station. The feasibility study will examine those regulations and their impact on the project.

For the refueling station, Sandia can draw on its technical expertise in developing and optimizing safe, cost-effective vehicular hydrogen fueling stations. The US Department of Energy Fuel Cell Technologies Office funds most of Sandia’s efforts in this area.

Sandia is a leading partner in two nationwide infrastructure initiatives: H2USA, a private-public partnership focused on advancing hydrogen infrastructure (earlier post), and the Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure Research and Station Technology (H2FIRST), a US Department of Energy project established to support H2USA. (Earlier post.)

Sandia also leads the Maritime Fuel Cell (MarFC) project, which is piloting the use of a hydrogen fuel cell to power refrigerated containers on land and on transport barges at the Port of Honolulu.

Working with the Bureau of Shipping and the Coast Guard, we’ve explored some of the unique issues related to using a hydrogen fuel cell on a vessel and in the marine environment. But there is more at stake when the fuel cell is powering the boat, not an auxiliary system, and the boat is carrying passengers.

—Joe Pratt

Vessel design next step. If the feasibility study indicates that SF-BREEZE could succeed technically, economically and within regulations, the next step is to design the vessel. The project will need additional funding, resources and partners, which could come from the federal government, the state of California, investors, industry or private foundations.