The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) based in Orkney, has been granted £40,332 of funding from Innovate UK to design and integrate a hydrogen/diesel dual-fuel injection system for a commercial ferry (www.emec.org.uk) .

The hydrogen to be used in the project will be produced by EMEC from the abundance of renewable-energy sources available on the islands; it will power a ferry operating between Kirkwall and the island of Shapinsay.

The 12-month HyDIME (Hydrogen Diesel Injection in a Marine Environment) project will provide a stepping stone to de-risk and kick-start future hydrogen marine projects.

Led by Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd, the project also involves Orkney Islands Council, the High Speed Sustainable Manufacturing Institute (HSSMI), EMEC and Lloyds Register — plus ULEMCo, which converts commercial vehicles to run on hydrogen.

Orkney is the ideal location for the HyDIME project, with the infrastructure to produce completely ‘green’ hydrogen. On the island of Eday, there is often a surplus of renewable electricity, which is fed into an electrolyser sited at EMEC’s tidal test facility.

This splits water into hydrogen and oxygen; the former can then be stored and transported.

As part of the project, HSSMI will conduct a scale-up analysis and carry out a techno-economic assessment of the current system and of potential future scenarios.

The aim is to determine if there are any other regions of the UK where similar hydrogen infrastructure could be implemented, leading to similar — and larger — projects to contribute towards growing the hydrogen economy in the UK.

Chris Dunn, chief naval architect at Ferguson Marine, said: “Over recent years, Ferguson Marine has been at the global forefront of green marine propulsion technology development.

“This exciting project is yet another positive step on that journey, joining up with world-leading technology innovators to move us one step closer to our goal of delivering a zero-emission hydrogen powered commercial roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry by 2020.”