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Sailing to a Hydrogen Future

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Nick Nuttall

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By Nick Nuttall

Imagine tens of thousands of high-tech sailing ships, travelling around the world’s oceans, turning the power of the wind into green, clean, hydrogen.

That is the dream of Ben Medland, a UK engineer that formerly worked at BAE Systems and Accenture, who has founded Drift Energy as a mobile renewable energy source.

“Our vision is a flotilla on every ocean able to abate 1 Giggaton of CO2 by 2050,” he told Climate Table, part of Table Media.

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Artists impression of the Drift Energy hydrogen-generating ships

The ships will store the hydrogen onboard and when fully laden, supply harbours or refuel big vessels at sea
The technology, which uses wind power to turn a propellor-like turbine to electrically split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen, has been tested using a catamaran at Plymouth Harbour on the south coast.

Mr Medland, whose firm is based in Bath, England, says the real breakthrough is the underlining digital algorithm that directs the vessel to sail to places with strong wind speeds and take the hydrogen “harvest” to where it is needed.

The invention has just secured backing from Europe’s venture capital firm Octopus Ventures. The next step is to scale up the design initially to a 1-2 MW ship by 2027 if not before and are currently in discussion with shipyards and regulatory agencies. Eventually, even bigger ships will be built to realize the company’s goals.

Mr Medland is pragmatic about Drift Energy underlining that the technology is not out to replace conventional renewables like offshore wind turbines or solar.

“Drift works on the fringes of the renewable energy transition, handling hard to abate sectors like shipping and hard to reach places like remote coastal communities and islands,” he said.

But he underlines the advantages which include being free from waiting for grid connections and being mobile rather than a static renewable energy sources.

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Ben Medland, Founder and CEO of Drift Energy

Drift Energy certainly has its fans. Supporters include America’s Cup yacht designer Daniel Bernasconi and Blue Action Accelerator, which supports the sustainable development of coastal communities.

Madadh MacLaine, Secretary General of the Zero Emissions Ship Technology Association in the UK:” "All the energy maritime shipping requires is at sea. For our association, Drift Energy's solution is key to eliminating shipping’s Green House Gas emissions without conflicting with terrestrial clean energy requirements. "
This article was originally published in Table Media 10.12.2024



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