It is with great pride and pleasure that Navalprogetti announces that the Company has been granted the Approval in Principle (AiP) from the leading classification society Lloyd’s Register for the “development and basic design of the LH2/FC power generation system for propulsion and hotel loads for Viking Cruises”.
The AiP is for the Basic Design of the hydrogen fuel storage and distribution system and fuel cell power generation system to be installed onboard of the new Viking ships for Zero Emission Mode navigation.
The project started in September 2021 and was led by Navalprogetti with the collaboration of other leading Companies in the industry.
With some of these Companies, Navalprogetti and Viking Cruises established a Consortium to participate to a Horizon Europe call (HORIZON-CL5-2021-D5-01 – Clean and competitive solutions for all transport modes). The Consortium, composed of 13 partners from 6 European countries, won the call with sHYpS project and was granted the amount of 14 M€, financed at 60%, to expand and deepen the job carried out during the Basic Design activities.
sHYpS project, started in June 2022, will last 4 years and will develop a novel hydrogen storage intermodal 45’ ISO c-type container, the complete detailed design of modular containerized powertrain based on optimized PEM Fuel Cells and their dedicated logistics. On one hand the project will define a logistic based on swapping pre-filled containers, on the other hand it will define a perspective scale-up of the storage capacity and the supply applied to the Port of Bergen use-case. This will allow to kick start a supply-chain without waiting for the full infrastructure to be in place.
The multi MW system, being modular, can be applied to any kind of vessel, ranging from ferries to bulk carriers and other, of small to medium size.
Navalprogetti, with the participation of Owner, Manufacturers, several SME and Norwegian Maritime Authority representatives has carried out the following risk assessment sessions:
- PAR workshop in Trieste in August 2022
- HAZID workshop in Southampton in October 2022
The screening done by Lloyd’s Register found no major conceptual issues that would prevent the design concept being further developed to gain full classification.
For the AiP, Navalprogetti developed the hydrogen system design documentation including the following:
- Basis of design for liquid hydrogen system installation onboard;
- Tank connection space design and structural analysis;
- Hydrogen system connection details between swappable liquid hydrogen container and tank connection space installed onboard;
- Concept design of the storage tank and the evaporator;
- Arrangement of the hydrogen fuel system;
- Impact of the ship vibration on the LH2 storage system;
- Inert gas system design;
- Hydrogen venting system;
- Ventilation system design of the hazardous area;
- Hydrogen fuel system design;
- Fire and safety requirements;
- Material compatibility study;
- Hazardous areas plan;
- Passive fire protection plan;
- Gas Detection system;
- Emergency shutdown system.
The list above covers only partially the body of work that was produced for the Basic Design phase.
The AiP was signed by all technical specialists responsible of their own disciplines.
With the collaboration of experienced and skilled partners in the field, Navalprogetti carried out CFD analysis for hydrogen leakage and explosion simulations. The analysis permitted to investigate the safety of the system and the arrangement and to make design decisions aimed to improve the reliability and the safety of the system.
As a by-product of the Basic Design, Navalprogetti and Viking are developing some specialized technology necessary for the running of the system and are working to patent these inventions.
NAVALPROGETTI S.R.L. would like to thank Viking Ocean Cruises for giving the opportunity to be an essential part of the energy transition of its fleet to a carbon-free future.
NAVALPROGETTI S.R.L. would also like to thank Lloyd’s Register for the fruitful collaboration that led to this important achievement.