Corvus Energy and Toyota partner in hydrogen fuel-cell system
Energy storage group Corvus Energy is set to start development and production of sustainable, large scale maritime-certified hydrogen fuel cell systems.
“Adding fuel cell modules to our product portfolio is a natural step for Corvus and advances our vision to be the leading supplier of zero-emission marine solutions,” says Corvus Energy CEO Geir Bjørkeli. “Fuel cell technology has reached a maturity level where scale-up of systems will be the next step.”
Corvus will lead the Norwegian consortium (see below) in its partnership with Toyota – a company which has had 30 years’ experience in the development and production of fuel cells for the car market and other land-based applications.
“Toyota is in the forefront of the development and is by far the best partner for us to make this a success,” says Bjørkeli.
Interest in hydrogen for maritime applications has been increasing rapidly, with hydrogen power seen as an important step to reach shipping’s ambitious goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050. Reducing the cost of fuel cells and increasing access to the technology is crucial to accelerate the transition. The initiative represents an important step towards achieving both goals by producing modularised systems not available on a large scale today. The Corvus-Toyota partnership will become a strong player enabling a significant increase in capacity of marine fuel cells to the market.
The development partnership aims to showcase its first marine fuel cell system onboard a vessel in 2023 and the product will be marine certified and available for commercial delivery from 2024.
“Decarbonisation is inevitable and at Toyota, we are convinced that hydrogen will play a central role in creating a better future, both environmentally and economically,” says Thiebault Paquet, for Toyota Motor Europe. “Our recently established fuel cell business group in Brussels is looking forward to working with Corvus Energy to offer fuel cell solutions for marine applications. This project will play an important role in the development of the hydrogen society.”
Corvus is leading the collaboration with Norwegian partners Equinor, shipowners Norled and Wilhelmsen, ship design company LMG Marin, the NCE Maritime CleanTech cluster and R&D institution the University of South-Eastern Norway to develop and produce modularised and cost-effective PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel-cell systems for the international marine market. The project has received €5.2m in funding from state agency Innovation Norway bolstering Corvus’ front-runner position in clean technology for maritime and other sectors.
