As part of a consortium involving GE Power Conversion, MSC Cruise Management UK and Lloyd’s register, Ceres has been able to confirm the feasibility of using a 10MW natural gas, fuel cell installed on a large vessel, replacing diesel-fuelled generators.

Caroline Hargrove, Chief Technical Officer at Ceres, commented, “The Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition has been an invaluable process for the Ceres team, and we have welcomed the opportunity to work with so many leading operators and engineers from the global maritime industry.

“We believe these findings are an important step in validating the compatibility of solid oxide technology with maritime applications.

“We await the second phase of the Competition to further demonstrate a safe and feasible transition pathway for the shipping industry to reach net-zero emissions in a manner aligned with the UK Clean Maritime Plan and legally binding national and international global climate change targets.”

In 2021, £23m ($28.7m) was invested by the UK Government in 55 projects to accelerate, design, and manufacture zero-emissions ships in British Shipyards by 2025.

The two projects Ceres’ was involved in evaluated the most effective way to integrate its solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) technology into cruise ship applications which will hopefully be applied with hydrogen in the future.