Australian start-up Provaris Energy reports that it is continuing to make progress on its design efforts for a compressed hydrogen gas carrier. The company is developing one of several concepts within the shipping industry planned to meet the future needs to transport large quantities of hydrogen gas. Provaris reports it is targeting 2026 for delivery of the vessel.
In the latest step in the project, Provaris reports it has executed a Memorandum of Understanding with Northern Marine Management, a member of the Stena AB group of companies, to provide technical expertise to the project. Under the agreement, the companies will develop a technical partnership to support the ongoing engineering and development program of the H2Neo, the concept for the compressed hydrogen (GH2) carrier. Northern Marine will provide its expertise in naval architecture, marine engineering, regulatory and marine quality assurance, and ship management to support the development and commercialization of the H2Neo ship.
Among the elements to be addressed is the development of detailed engineering to receive class and flag approval for the vessel. In the second stage, they would support shipyard selection, contracting for the newbuilding, compliance certification, and supervision of the newbuilding. Provaris and Northern Marine will also review commercial opportunities for a fleet of H2Neo carriers. The agreement also anticipates that Northern Marine will provide ship management services on a contractual basis in the future.
“The design team for the GH2 Carrier continues to make excellent progress on the final design package for discussions with shipyards, an important milestone to refine our cost and schedule for construction and feed into project studies now in progress,” said Martin Carolan, Managing Director & CEO of Provaris.
The company recently reported that it anticipated that the engineering design package for the vessel would be available for delivery in June. They said it was currently 70 percent completed having engaged with ABS Consultants for gas dispersion, fire, and explosive safety studies. The goal is to share the completed packages with shipyards for construction scheduled and capital cost estimates, along with class societies as part of the approval for construction. The company is targeting mid-2023 for construction approval.
“The H2Neo engineering and design is now progressed sufficiently to commence discussions with Class for the design of testing and approval for construction,” reported Per Roed, Chief Technology Officer of Provaris. “We are also now integrating port infrastructure designs for our supply chain discussions with ports in Asia and more recently in Europe.”
As the project continues to develop, the company is also engaging with class societies and beginning preliminary engineering and concept design for port infrastructure solutions required for compressed hydrogen import and export terminals. Among the discussions underway are with Singapore for the possibility of an unloading jetty and also evaluating existing marine facilities at Port Melville in the Tiwi Islands. The company said it will also develop concept designs for a storage barge that could be used as an eventual extension for the supply chain.
Source: The Maritime Executive
