Hydrogen powered cargo ship the world’s first zero-emission bulk carrier

Statkraft receive support from the Norwegian government enterprise Enova SF to build the world’s first zero-emission bulk carrier!  Skagerak Energi and Statkraft’s green hydrogen bunkering solution will supply the world’s first hydrogen-powered cargo ship, and can be used for both shipping and other transport purposes.

“For Statkraft, this is an important milestone in establishing ourselves as a leading hydrogen producer in line with our strategy. It fits well with other initiatives we have on hydrogen to transport purposes in both Norway and Sweden,” says Birgitte R. Vartdal, Executive Vice President for Wind and Solar Power at Statkraft.

Statkraft is a leading company in hydropower internationally and Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy.

The Group produces hydropower, wind power, solar power, gas-fired power and supplies district heating. Statkraft is a global company in energy market operations. Statkraft has 4,500 employees in 17 countries.

Hydrogen  is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolyzers powered by renewable energy.

This results in only oxygen as a byproduct, instead of greenhouse gas emissions, which are released during the conventional hydrogen production process.

Hydrogen energy is very versatile, as it can be used in gas or liquid form, be converted into electricity or fuel, and there are many ways of producing it.

Approximately 70 million metric tons of hydrogen are already produced globally every year for use in oil refining, ammonia production, steel manufacturing, chemical and fertilizer production, food processing, metallurgy, and more.

There is more hydrogen in the universe than any other element, it’s been estimated that approximately 90 percent of all atoms are hydrogen. But hydrogen atoms do not exist in nature by themselves.

To produce hydrogen, its atoms need to be decoupled from other elements with which they occur in water, plants or fossil fuels. How this decoupling is done determines hydrogen energy sustainability.