Successful first day!
Over 250 participants joined in this morning from all over the world to attend The 5th International Conference on Maritime Hydrogen and Marine Energy.
The conference was opened by the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. She talked about how The Norwegian Government will increase the number of hydrogen pilots and demonstration projects in a bid to find solutions to combat climate change.
Norway has a national focus on hydrogen with the government launching its hydrogen strategy in June and with the recent beginning of work on a hydrogen roadmap.
- We have to find solutions to combat climate change and at the same time ensure healthy food, clean energy, clean transport and secure jobs for a growing population. I am very pleased to take part in this event as I strongly believe that the maritime and marine sectors are part of the answer, said Erna Solberg in her opening speech.
The Global Energy situation and Hydrogen Vessel Projects
The first day of the conference addressed two topics; The Global Energy Situation and Hydrogen Vessel Projects.
Laurent Debart
BRS Broker’s Laurent Debart explained that the focus needs to be on clean, non-fossil fuels like hydrogen and hydrogen-related products like ammonia.
- It’s very clear that we need to get to zero emission or very low emissions, and there’s no halfway to do that. Today’s shipping fuels emit a lot of emissions.
He continued to state the importance of combining forces and he hopes to see more coordination between companies.
CEO of Qamar Energy, Robin Mills, told the participants about the world energy situation and hydrogen’s role as an energy carrier.
- I think hydrogen is really filling some of the gaps as a low carbon energy carrier and one that is capable of powering things like particularly long-distance transport. He further explained the difference between so-called blue and green hydrogen, and that those are the two clear contenders at the moment.
As Robin Mills was asked about the key drivers for increasing the use of hydrogen, he replied: The key is the need to tackle climate change, and we need another energy carrier. To make hydrogen expand, we need the cost and flexibility to get better.
A puzzle of regulations
Joseph W. Pratt from Golden Gate Zero Emission Marine explained the regulatory puzzle and that there for now is no simple solution to implement hydrogen on vessels.
- The piecing together of all the systems and regulations is something you, for now, have to do yourself. That is a challenge we see, and to solve this puzzle we need educated personnel. The panel consisting of Laurence Grand-Clément, Laurent Debart and Anders Valland discussed afterwards how this regulatory puzzle effects the speed of ongoing projects and that this clearly delays the process;
- The existing knowledge should be widely distributed around the world, and moving forward we need to work on the regulations together, Laurence stated.
Milinko Godjevac, Future Proof Shipping
Milinko Godjevac from Future Proof Shipping talked about their first project; Zero-emissions on an inland cargo vessel. They are retrofitting an existing 110m inland vessel with the new zero-emissions propulsion system, including fuel cells, an electric motor and hydrogen storage.
- We are expecting to begin the hydrogen operations in 2021 and our vision is to have a Zero Emission maritime world by 2040. Yes, hydrogen is expensive, but when you look at it in other ways it is the most affordable choice to get the end results we need, explains Godjevac. He concludes his presentation by telling the attendees:
Be open minded! Zero emission shipping is possible both in technological and financial terms.
You can still join in and participate on tomorrows topics and workshops. If you buy a gold ticket you receive all live presentations, a list of participants, presentation recordings and PDF’s after the conference.
We hope to see you tomorrow for another day filled with interesting topics and discussions!
The conference is hosted by Ocean Hyway Cluster and GCE Ocean Technology