Background:

Norway is facing the challenge of reducing transport emissions. High speed crafts (HSC) are the means of transport with highest emissions. Currently there is little literature or experience of using hydrogen systems for HSC.

Objective:

Evaluate the economic feasibility of fuel cell (FC) powered HSC vs diesel and biodiesel today, and in a future scenario, based on real world operation profile.

Method:

Historical AIS position data from the route combined with the speed-power characteristics of a concept vessel was used to identify the energy and power demand. From the resulting data a suitable FC system was defined, and an economic comparison made based on annual costs including annualized investment and operational costs.

Results:

HSC with a FC-system has an annual cost of 12.6 MNOK. It is 28% and 12% more expensive than diesel and biodiesel alternative, respectively. A sensitivity analysis with respect to 7 key design parameters indicates that highest impact is made by hull energy efficiency, FC system cost and hydrogen fuel cost. In a future scenario (2025–2030) with moderate technology improvements and cost development, the HSC with FC-systems can become competitive with diesel and cheaper than biodiesel.

Conclusions:

HSC with FC-systems may reach cost parity with conventional diesel in the period 2025–2030.