Ricardo has expanded its capabilities in for hydrogen within the global maritime sector by supporting customers with design, development and testing of large-scale propulsion systems.
The company will begin testing of multi-stack fuel cell technology when it doubles the capacity of its £2.5m ($3.1m) hydrogen test facility in Shoreham-by-Sea, the UK, to deliver hydrogen testing.
An existing building on site will be converted to facilitate the development of testing for large-scale marine engines and it will support its hydrogen and fuel cell services and solutions being delivered.
“Hydrogen offers a real alternative to supporting decarbonisation in several industries,” explained Jason Oms O’Donnell, Managing Director of Automotive and Industrial at Ricardo.
“Including maritime, commercial vehicles, off-highway and aerospace where the combination of high value assets, the longevity of fleets and the importance of safe implementation of new technology means that these sectors can be challenging to decarbonise.”
Last year (2023), Ricardo agreed it would support a European consortium developing the Sustainable Hydrogen Powered Shipping (sHYpS) project, which is focused on designing and developing fuel cell propulsion technologies for ships.
Ricardo received funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK Government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee to build and test a 375kW fuel cell module.
Read more:Ricardo to develop hydrogen fuel cells to power passenger ships with sHYpS consortium
O’Donnell added, “Ricardo’s involvement in the sHYpS project means we are applying our world-leading expertise in the hydrogen value chain to implement innovative hydrogen technologies safely to help the global maritime sector achieve long term decarbonisation goals.
“This latest expansion of our capabilities will help us to deliver future projects.”
