Chemgas has hydrogen plans

GREEN DANUBE

FUEL CELLS • PLANNING FOR A DECARBONISED INLAND SHIPPING SECTOR STARTS NOW. CHEMGAS IS LOOKING AT HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS FROM A NORWEGIAN CLEANTECH COMPANY

DUTCH SHIPOWNER CHEMGAS Shipping has signed a frame agreement with TECO 2030, a Norwegian maritime technology company, that could lead to fuel cell modules being fitted to as many as 120 barges and around 50 tugboats that Chemgas employs on the River Danube.

“We are thrilled that Chemgas Shipping has chosen to cooperate with TECO 2030 on this ambitious and important project, and that we have now been able to progress from a letter of intent to a supply frame agreement,” says Tore Enger, CEO of TECO 2030. “The economic potential of this framework agreement is large for TECO 2030 and may lead to revenues of up to €150m over the next three to eight years.”

The fuel cell modules will be fitted on Chemgas’s new hydrogen-powered tugboats and barges, for use in transporting green hydrogen produced in Romania from solar power and wind energy, carrying it emissionsfree along the Danube to industrial users in Austria and Germany as part of the ‘Green Hydrogen@Blue Danube’ project, which is led by the Austrian energy utility Verbund and is being developed within the framework of the European Commission’s Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) initiative.

A pilot version of the fuel cell modules is due for delivery in spring 2023 with most of the units expected to be fitted from 2025 onwards. GO LOW Explaining the move to fuel cells, Gunther Jaegers, managing partner of Chemgas Shipping, says: “The TECO 2030 marine fuel cell is the proper solution for inland waterway navigation. We have to deal with low water situations where heavy batteries are not acceptable.” Fuel cells have a longer range, weigh less, and take up less space than batteries. They do not need to be recharged and can instead be refuelled with hydrogen in a similar way to traditional bunkering operations.

Chemgas Shipping, which has been part of the Reederei Jaegers group since 2003, is currently in the midst of a major fleet renewal programme, having this year added three coastal LPG tankers and, for the inland fleet, three push boats and two 3,000-m3 push barges.

The new waterway combinations are specifically designed for low water performance, Chemgas says, and the barges can sail with a draft of as little as 1.2 metres while carrying up to 250 tonnes of cargo. Furthermore, a 2,700-m3 motor barge was added this past July to the Union Shipping fleet, which partners with Chemgas, again optimised for low water performance.

TECO 2030 was founded in 2019, having developed from the TECO Maritime Group, and is based in Lysaker, Norway. Its mission is to assist the maritime sector, in particularly the inland waterway sector, to do its part in meeting the EU’s aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 per cent by 2030 and become climate-neutral by 2050. In addition to hydrogen fuel cells, it is developing carbon capture and exhaust gas cleaning systems for the maritime industry, which will enable ships running on fossil fuels to lower their environmental and climate footprints. This past July it took over an existing building in Narvik, where it expects to start producing fuel cell modules next year. www.chemgas.nl teco2030.no

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