Russia to build an experimental hydrogen-powered ship

At the Zelenodolsk shipbuilding plant (controlled by the shipbuilding corporation “AK Bars» – SK «AK Bars”), an experimental pleasure craft using hydrogen fuel cell technology was laid down in Tatarstan. It is a technology demonstrator and shipping companies are not yet ready to operate ships with such an innovative engine.

The vessel of project 00393 was developed according to the project of the St. Petersburg Central Design Bureau “Baltsudoproekt”, which is part of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Krylov State Scientific Center” (KGNTS) and was laid down on February 28 under a contract with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia in the amount of 634 million rubles. The contract includes R & D for the development of technologies, design and creation of universal functional modules on hydrogen fuel cells, a filling station and a prototype vessel worth 634 million rubles. “The first tests of the modules will begin in May this year on the territory of the KGNTs, and the transfer of the R&D results to the customer is scheduled for the end of autumn,” a source in the Federal State Unitary Enterprise told Vedomosti.

As General Director of KGNTs Oleg Savchenko told Vedomosti at the keel-laying ceremony, the ship’s hull itself is ready;

According to its dimensions, the vessel is designed for pleasure trips on water in the waters of megacities or in the beach area of ​​resorts, which complies with the rules and regulations of the Russian Register. It will implement a unified electric power system with an electric propulsion system with propeller motors, said Andrey Obukhov, chief designer of the Baltsudoproekt Central Design Bureau. The vessel will be equipped with two propellers powered by 22 kW electric motors each. This is enough for a boat with a capacity of 12 people (including two crew members). The speed will be 12.2 km / h, which corresponds to recreational swimming. Hydrogen elements are located under the stern. Autonomy of swimming – five hours.

KGNTs is a developer of existing and future electric propulsion systems with propeller motors of various types, ranging from nuclear icebreakers to small class ships. The partner in this project was OAO SKAK Bars”, which signed a cooperation agreement with KGNTs in the fall of 2022. “The plant’s specialists were the first in the country to build the Chaika passenger ship running on liquefied natural gas, having implemented on it all the requirements that ensure the operability and safety of the gas system,” Andrey Obukhov, chief designer of the Central Design Bureau Baltsudoproekt, explained.

To create the first sample, a small-sized vessel was specially chosen, which has the prospect of commercial use. In the future, the power module can be scaled up for more powerful vessels. “When forming the power plant for large ships, the plant is scaled up by adding additional hydrogen modules,” Andrey Obukhov noted.

“Hydrogen fuel cells are already outperforming batteries in terms of specific capacity,” Oleg Savchenko, General Director of the Krylovsky State Scientific Center, noted the advantage of hydrogen technologies. “Hydrogen cells are an electrochemical current source, for which hydrogen serves as a fuel, and oxygen in the supplied air serves as an oxidizer. In addition, hydrogen fuel provides noiseless movement on water, which is necessary when performing various technological and scientific operations and scientific research,” he says.

So far, travel companies are determined to operate ships on traditional batteries. “We are not yet considering hydrogen fuel cell ships, because there is no infrastructure for charging them,” a representative of the Vodokhod travel company explained to Vedomosti.

Now Vodokhod is financing the construction of two large pleasure craft with a capacity of 130 people at a plant in the Leningrad region, he said. It is based on electric motors on batteries. These ships will be put into operation during this navigation. One will run in Nizhny Novgorod, the second – in Krasnoyarsk, a company representative said.

Sergey Grishunin, Managing Director of the NRA Rating Service, believes that the topic of hydrogen ships and demonstrators was relevant in 2021. “Now the production of LNG-powered ships will be a much more promising area. First, it solves most of the environmental problems. Secondly, CNG engines are more durable. The third advantage of LNG ships is the utilization of natural gas, which, after the loss of the European market, has become a much more urgent task.”