CALMAC PLANS FOR FUTURE USE OF HYDROGEN AS FUEL FOR FERRIES

摘要

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd. has joined with community-owned wind farm company Point and Sandwick Trust and other companies to assess the feasibility of using local wind farms to produce hydrogen fuel for future ferries operating in the Western Isles and West Coast of Scotland. Part-funded by the Scottish Government's Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme, the project explored the practical and economic feasibility of using new island wind farms to produce zero-carbon hydrogen fuel for future ferries that could use hydrogen fuel cells to operate on existing Caledonian MacBrayne (part of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd.) routes. The project team assessed the most practical locations and likely output and cost of island wind farms; how to overcome challenges associated with handling, transporting and storing the hydrogen on local piers; and the bunkering requirements of nine West Coast ferry routes. Assessments found that the highest scoring route for a large ferry was the vessel operating on the long crossing from Stornoway to Ullapool, which would require annually 3,767 tonnes of hydrogen produced by 15 wind turbines. Estimates suggest this could save 21,815 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, the equivalent of removing 4,742 cars off the road annually. Meanwhile, the highest scoring route using a small ferry was on the short crossing from Barra to Eriskay, which would require 219 tonnes of hydrogen produced by a single 4.3-megawatt wind turbine generator. This could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 676 tonnes every year - equal to taking 147 cars off the road in the same period.