San Francisco Hosts International Hydrogen Ports Workshop

A major two day Hydrogen Ports  Workshop began yesterday (10 September 2019)  in San Francisco . The two day event titled “H2@Ports Workshop” shows the growing interest in the use of hydrogen in porta and the maritime sector at both Government level and within the ports and hydrogen industry.  This interest has grown substantially after  the agreement of ambitious emission reduction targets by the IMO in April 2018 and the realisation that these targets could not be reached by the introduction of LNG alone.

In fact, Governments across the World are realising the potential for hydrogen in a wide range of maritime applications.   These  include vessels, port vehicles, shore power, and port related equipment. The Workshop will help identify  research needed to accelerate technology development and address barriers to the commercialisation of hydrogen maritime applications. The Workshop is being organised by  the U.S. Maritime Administration and the  EU  Hydrogen Fuel Cell  Joint Undertaking (FCH JU).

Its objectives are to:

• Assess the state of the art for maritime applications specifically using hydrogen fuel cells
• Discuss operational requirements and lessons learned on early fuel cell maritime projects
• Understand current technology gaps and identify collaborative R&D opportunities
• Identify regulatory challenges and needed safety codes and standards

The Workshop will include presentations from both Governments and the hydrogen and ports industry.  Government speakers come from the United States, Germany, the UK, Japan, the European Commission and the FCH-JU.  Industry perspectives will come form Power System Developers, Vehicle and Fuel Cell Manufacturers, and Ship System Developers.  there will also be sessions on Regulations, Codes and Standards and Recent Research.