Developing Hydrogen Ports and Maritime Policy in the North Sea Region – Conclusions

European Policy Solutions with the support of the Dutch Fuel Cell Manufacturer Nedstack held a Hydrogen Ports and Maritime Policy Conference in Edinburgh at the end of March. The Conference looked particularly at the activity and potential for hydrogen port and maritime development in the North Sea Region.  The Conclusions of the Conference can be found here

The Conference was well attended and over 60 participants registered for the event.   There was a variety of speakers from both the public and private sectors.  The Opening Address was given by Morna Cannon, Head of Maritime Technology at the UK Government’s Department for Transport.  She looked at the UK’s Maritime 2050 Strategy which was published in January 2019 and the forthcoming Clean Maritime Plan.

She was followed by Carlo Raucci from U-MAS who outlined the recently published report, ‘Transition Pathways,’ which examined ways in which the IMO emissions target could be reached.   He was followed by Olav Hansen from Lloyd’s Register looking at the work of Lloyd’s in terms of safety on hydrogen vessels.  Gesa Reiss from the University of Hull explained the hydrogen potential in the Port of Hull.

The next session looked at Policy Initiatives to encourage the use of hydrogen in the Ports and Maritime sector.  Torsten Klimke from DG Move outlined the views of the European Commission; Stuart McKay from the Scottish Government outlined the role of hydrogen in Scotland’s energy and transport policies and Nigel Holmes (SHFCA) presented hydrogen projects and activities in Scotland.  Richard Klatten from Future Proof Shipping looked at policy development  from the point of view of the private sector.

There are technological challenges and advances in the hydrogen sector and these were discussed. Kristina Juelsgaard from Ballard Power Systems talked about fuel cell development in larger ships; Chester Lewis from E4tech talked about E4tech’s work on Bulk Hydrogen production in Germany; Charles Purkess from ITM Power outlined their work in Maritime Hydrogen Operations and David Fields from Intelligent Energy presented their portside solutions.

A number of projects and case studies were profiled at the Conference and these included Jogchum Bruinsma from Nedstack looking at the measures needed to accelerate zero emission shipping; Ase Bye from Power Cell Sweden looked at activities to introduce Fast Ferries;  Jon Clipsham from EMEC explained the projects and impact of hydrogen on the Orkney Islands and Tobias Metzner profiled the greenports concept in bremenports.

A Panel Discussion ended the day with a lively debate on the development of closer co-operation and the promotion of networks in the North Sea Region.  This was preceded by a presentation from Christian Byrith about the North Sea INTERREG  Programme and from Madadh MacLaine about the Dual Ports North Sea INTERREG Programme