Wärtsilä has installed a Wärtsilä Fuel Cell (WFC) 20 unit on board the Undine, a car carrier owned by Swedish maritime transport company Wallenius Lines, with the aim of testing a fuel cell in a marine environment.  The Undine, with the WFC 20 unit installed, sailed from the Port of Bremerhaven, in Germany, on May 1. The ship’s destination is the UK and, after stopping in the US and Sweden, and will dock on October 31, says Wärtsilä director of fuel cells Erkko Fontell.

The fuel unit will, during the test period, provide auxiliary power to the vessel, while producing almost no emissions. “This project is an important step towards more environment-friendly shipping and cleaner seaborne transportation,” Wärtsilä reports.

Experts and other trained personnel are on board the vessel to operate the system. The company has also established data transfer between the vessel and a technical team to follow the operation of the unit. The company says that the validation process on the journey will provide feedback and information for the future development of technology for marine environment applications.

The fuel cell is an SOFC, with a nominal output of 20 kW, and is fueled by methanol.

“We want to further develop fuel cell technology and introduce it to the commercial markets in the next few years. We also want to increase the power output of the units, and the next step is a 50-kW power range and later a 250-kW range,” says Fontell.

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