Ballard Power Systems Europe A/S—a subsidiary of Ballard Power Systems, Inc.—is establishing a Marine Center of Excellence (Marine CoE) dedicated to fuel cell marine applications at the company’s engineering, manufacturing and service facility in Hobro, Denmark. The Marine CoE will design and manufacture heavy duty fuel cell modules to address zero-emission powertrain requirements for the marine industry.

A new motive fuel cell system manufacturing hall is planned to be constructed and operational at the Hobro location by year-end 2019, with expected annual production capacity of more than 15 megawatts (MW) of fuel cell modules. Fuel cell module development work at the Marine CoE will be based on Ballard’s new FCgen-LCS fuel cell stack and next-generation heavy duty power module, which are planned for commercial launch later this year, and will be designed to meet European marine certification requirements.

Benefits of Ballard’s FCgen-LCS fuel cell stack, compared to the current generation liquid-cooled fuel cell stack that it will replace, include: significantly lower life cycle cost; ultra-long durability; higher power density; freeze-start capability; high tolerance to operating conditions; simplified systems integration; and sustainability.

Reduction of pollutants and carbon emissions is a high priority for the marine industry and port cities. Regulations to restrict diesel emissions are being introduced at the local and regional levels in various parts of the world, and this is generating interest in zero-emission fuel cell technology.

In 2018 the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced a strategy to reduce GHG emissions from ships, including a 50% reduction in GHGs by 2050 as compared to the 2008 level, and complete elimination of GHGs as soon as possible in this century. The IMO has estimated that 1.135 billion tonnes of CO₂ was emitted by ships in 2008, representing 3.5% of the global total that year.

Against this backdrop, Ballard’s zero-emission fuel cell modules offer a compelling value proposition for marine vessels, in both stand-alone and hybrid deployments with batteries.

Ballard fuel cell modules deliver: (i) design flexibility, including modular components and scalable power (from 100 kilowatts to more than 1MW) to support vessel propulsion, auxiliary power and/or system redundancy; (ii) extended range, proportionate to the volume of energy-rich compressed liquid hydrogen fuel stored on board a vessel (which can also be rapidly replenished), rather than creating a weight challenge through the addition of heavy batteries; and (iii) positive economics, underpinned by the compatibility of fuel cell DC power with battery hybrid electric architectures.

In addition to work on MW-scale marine power solutions with ABB, Ballard is actively involved in a number of sub-MW marine projects, including: development of HySeas III, the world’s first sea-going renewables-powered car and passenger ferry, which will operate in the Orkney Archipelago off the coast of Scotland; participation in the H2PORTS project to facilitate a rapid transition at Europe's ports from fossil fuels to low-carbon, zero-emission alternatives based on hydrogen and fuel cells, initially at the Port of Valencia in Spain; and a Flagships project to demonstrate fuel cell commercial readiness by powering a ferry in Norway and a river barge in France.