Doosan Fuel Cell forms consortium with Shell, three others to test operate maritime fuel cells

Doosan Fuel Cell formed a consortium with Shell and three others to test operate maritime fuel cells, the company said Tuesday.

From left: Vidar Dolonen, DNV’s regional manager in Korea, Chung Hyung-rak, Doosan Fuel Cell CEO, Karrie Trauth, Shell senior vice president, Ka Sam-hyun, KSOE President, and Che Hoo-seok, Doosan Fuel Cell vice president, during a signing ceremony Tuesday in central Seoul [DOOSAN FUEL CELL]

Doosan Fuel Cell formed a consortium with Shell and three others to test operate maritime fuel cells, the company said Tuesday.

The consortium includes London-based Shell, Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), HyAxiom — Doosan Fuel Cell’s U.S. subsidiary in Connecticut — and DNV, an Oslo-based marine shipping registrar.

The five members signed a deal to jointly develop and test a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) for ships, a device to generate electricity by oxidizing fuels, at Westin Josun Hotel in central Seoul on Tuesday.

SOFC technology is expected to help cut carbon emissions in the freight industry.

The consortium hopes to develop a SOFC system for ships by 2024 and test operate it through 2025. The plan is to install a 600-kilowatt SOFC system in a freight vessel as an auxiliary power unit and operate a performance demonstration of the ship for a year.

Doosan Fuel Cell expects its SOFC to cut energy consumption by up to 65 percent.

Doosan will supply SOFC systems for ships and core equipment, while HyAxiom will build the auxiliary power unit and develop a SOFC system. Shell will order, run and manage the ship for the demonstration and oversee the test project, while KSOE will build the ship and install the SOFC in it. DNV will issue certification for the ship.

“We expect that adopting Doosan’s SOFC for intermediate and low temperatures in ships, which is more energy efficient and has a longer lifetime than the previous models, will boost ship operation efficiency and accelerate decarbonization of the maritime industry,” said Chung Hyung-rak, Doosan Fuel Cell CEO.

The signing ceremony on Tuesday was attended by Chung, Shell Senior Vice President Karrie Trauth, KSOE President Ka Sam-hyun, and Vidar Dolonen, DNV’s regional manager in Korea.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]