'Major European shipyard' inks deal for 2-MW methanol-to-power system

An unnammed shipyard in Europe has purchased eight hydrogen-to-methanol fuel-cell stacks totalling 2 MW in power for commercial maritime applications. 

Shipbuilding details in the contract have not yet been made public, but a sub-supplier, US-based e1 Marine, which supplies methanol-to-hydrogen generator technology to maritime and portside clients, said it had received an order for "eight M30 reformers to support PowerCell’s first commercial sale of its M2Power 250 system".

"The order, comprising of one reformer per M2Power 250 system, forms part of PowerCell’s Skr150M (US$16M) contract with a major European shipyard for a 2-MW methanol-to-power installation, marking the first commercial deployment of a fully integrated, methanol-reformer-and-fuel cell solution for the marine market," e1 Marine’s statement said.  

Delivery is scheduled for 2029, the company said.

Each 250-kW M2Power 250 module will combine PowerCell’s marine fuel-cell stacks and e1 Marine’s M30 hydrogen generator to produce electrical power for onboard systems.

"Designed to replace traditional marine diesel gensets, the integration also eliminates the need for high-pressure hydrogen storage by generating fuel cell-grade hydrogen directly on board using a methanol and deionised water blend as feedstock," the companies said.

E1 Marine said its modular M-Series generators produce hydrogen on demand with up to 80% energy efficiency, generating up to 16.2 kg of fuel cell-grade hydrogen per hour (≥99.97% purity, ISO 14687 compliant). The system is approved in principle by Lloyd’s Register, the American Bureau of Shipping and the Republic of the Marshall Islands Maritime Administrator.

The system purports to cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 85% compared with diesel engines while producing no NOx, SOx or particulate matter emissions.

Prior joint initiatives between the two companies have "refined the integration between reformer and fuel cell," e1 Marine said, citing the Hydrogen One project and an ongoing STAX Engineering partnership. 

Chief executive of PowerCell Group Richard Berkling said, “With the M2Power 250, we’re taking PowerCell beyond fuel-cell electrification, simplifying integration for shipyards and system integrators while accelerating hydrogen adoption in markets where infrastructure is still catching up.