Exeter Port Authority took delivery of a hydrogen electric workboat made and designed by Ecomar Propulsion
This week Exeter Port Authority took delivery of a hydrogen electric workboat made and designed by Ecomar Propulsion for a period of time to assist with the trials and testing of the vessel.
The boat was launched into Exmouth harbour and is currently in the final stages of fitting out. A team from Ecomar Propulsion are currently installing the last items on an innovative new power systems and they are doing it whilst she is afloat!
The boat, MV Dirac, is named after one of the UK’s greatest science minds, Paul Dirac, who won a Nobel prize for his work in quantum physics.
said Ecomar Propulsion CEO Eugene Bari.
“We called her Dirac because we think that she represents the best of British engineering and innovation,”
“It is fitting that she starts her working life in the South – West where there is a centuries old tradition of seafaring and ground breaking innovation.”
MV Dirac is based on a NATO Combat Ready Boat but she has been radically redesigned internally. She is powered by two 250kW Ecomar Kairos motors and holds 180kWh of Li Ion Batteries which are supplemented by a hydrogen fuel cell that extends the range of the vessel considerably. The hydrogen is supplied in hand-portable BOC Genie bottles which are easily replaced and stored onboard. This means that it is possible to recharge the vessel whenever and wherever necessary.
Said Grahame Forshaw, Exeter Port Authority’s Harbour Master.
“The beauty of the hydrogen refuelling is that the port doesn’t need to install expensive equipment.
We can carry the bottles to the boat and they weigh about the same as a regular barbeque bottle. We can easily charge the batteries directly from the pontoon as well so it makes the move to clean energy really easy.”
Working alongside the Port and Ecomar, Exeter University’s Centre for Clean Future Mobility will be gathering data from the vessel as she enters an extended period of trials over the next few months.
said Eugene Bari
“We hope to be able to prove to the communities around the River Exe that the transition to clean maritime is easy and safe and above all sensible.
We understand that people have reservations about range and safety but the reality is very different from perception and we hope to be able to demonstrate that with the cooperation of forward thinking ports like Exeter, Britain can lead the world in decarbonising our waterways”
READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central
Exeter Port Authority took delivery of a hydrogen electric workboat made and designed by Ecomar Propulsion, source
