A team of researchers from the University Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah has carried out a study that combines two emerging technologies: offshore floating photovoltaics and green hydrogen production, in order to demonstrate that it is possible to feed ferries with renewable energy, drastically reducing Co₂ emissions.
The scenario chosen for the simulation concerns a route very similar to the Italian ones that connect the mainland to the islands: the ferry that leads up to 250 passengers from Terengganu to the island of Redang in Malaysia, about 60 km long for each round trip trip.
In Italy the ferries that connect destinations such as Sicily, Sardinia, Capri or Ischia still use fossil fuels mainly. The Malaysian studio opens the way to a concrete alternative: take advantage of 40,000 floating solar panels, arranged on an offshore 20 MW platform, to produce hydrogen intended for ship’s power supply.
The system imagined by the researchers includes:
The hydrogen is then liquefied, reducing its volume of 96%: from 24,000 m³ gaseous to about 850 m³ liquids, a fundamental condition to be able to use it on board.
Two trips per day and 23 million kg of CO₂ less every year
The data collected are clear. A plant of this type would be able to:
This would allow the analyzed ferry to carry out two complete runs per day, with a cost of energy (LCOE) of 0.276 RM/KWH and a cost of hydrogen of 13.64 RM/Kg. Although prices are higher than traditional fuels, they fall into the international estimates of the International Energy Agency for 2030, when green hydrogen should become competitive globally.
The system also shows a strong seasonality: in the sunny months, like April and May, almost 58,000 kg of hydrogen per month would come to produce, while in December the production would fall to about 35,600 kg.
Could it also work in Italy?
If this model was applied to the Italian context, it could reduce emissions related to maritime traffic between the peninsula and the major and minor islands. The investment costs remain high (there is talk of 4-5 million RM for each MW of floating solar and up to 12 million RM for supply infrastructure), but the environmental benefit would be enormous.
We think, for example, of the ferries that connect Naples to Capri or Ischia or the ships that start from Genoa and Civitavecchia towards Sardinia: similar systems could break down millions of tons of Co₂, transforming our travels into the sea into truly sustainable experiences.
The study, published in the Energy Conversion and Management magazine: X, was created in collaboration with Research Institutes in India, including the Manipal Academy of Higher Education and the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology.
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