Page 24: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2002)

Investment in Design • By David Tinsley

Fresh Fuel Cell Initiatives by David Tinsley, technical editor

Two recent European initiatives, both involving power systems supplier Wart- sila Corporation, have given fresh impe- tus to the development and application of fuel cell technology aboard ship. The

Finnish organization has entered into a pact with Danish firm Haldor Topsoe aimed at bringing cost-competitive fuel cell powering solutions to the market. It has also thrown its weight behind a major new, industry-wide European research program focusing on the tech- nology for commercial shipping.

Increased European efforts to make the concept a cost-acceptable reality in waterborne transportation follow an early take-up in the naval field. A 250 kW Siemens fuel cell of the proton exchange membrane (PEM)-type is being installed as part of a hybrid power and propulsion configuration adopted for a German-designed series of new- build submarines.

In the U.S., the federal government has this year given a fillip to the concept of fuel cell power in commercial marine applications, through its award of a $100,000 grant to the San Francisco Bay

Water Transit Authority towards the development of a zero-emissions com- muter ferry. The WTA is putting $25,000 from its own resources into the exercise, entailing the design, cost estimates and final drawings for a fuel cell-equipped ferry.

The new agreement between Wartsila and Haldor calls for the development of fuel cell products in the power range beyond 250-kW, for both the marine market and the distributed power gener- ation sector. The claimed attributes of the technology are ultra-low emissions, and high levels of reliability and effi- ciency, although the collaborators acknowledge that this raft of benefits must be provided at acceptable cost if market penetration is to be achieved.

Haldor Topsoe has a long track record in the field of catalysts and energy con- version, and its work on fuel cells has concentrated within the past five years on solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technol- ogy. One element of its research and development activities has been a 10-

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