Advent Technologies to develop a marine fuel cell solution for superyachts
Advent Technologies Holdings, Inc. announced today a new marine collaboration with a globally renowned energy technology company, offering sustainable solutions across the entire energy value chain.
Advent and its partner will work together to develop a 50kW–500kW marine fuel cell solution for a range of superyachts, which will provide a sustainable and reliable source of auxiliary power and offer improved power density. This marine fuel cell solution is initially expected to be used as a hybrid power source, enabling clean electricity generation instead of using conventional diesel engines and generators for procedures such as anchoring and maneuvering. As part of the agreement, Advent’s partner has placed an initial order for 20 of Advent’s methanol-powered Serene fuel cell systems.
Following the completion of this project, the two parties will explore the potential of developing similar solutions for a wider range of business applications beyond marine, such as industrial power solutions. Earlier this year, Advent’s Serene fuel cells successfully underwent testing and evaluation by the partner’s team of experts and passed the company-wide standardized “Supplier Qualification Process”.
Advent’s line of Serene solutions includes the core SereneU unit, a 4th generation methanol-powered hydrogen fuel cell that can be configured and stacked to meet electricity needs of up to 250kW. The SereneU is based on Advent’s high-temperature proton exchange membrane (“HT-PEM”) that has the advantages of high efficiency and performance in extreme temperatures, low total cost of ownership and reduced start-up time, and, fuel flexibility. Most importantly, Serene fuel cells can provide a significant reduction of emissions over conventional power generation.
Serene fuel cells run on methanol, a clean alternative to fossil fuels that allows simple storage in terms of handling and logistics and enhances the safety of operations. When powered by biomethanol, Serene fuel cells can achieve more than 80% CO2 emissions reduction compared to diesel generators. As the green hydrogen industry continues to develop, Serene fuel cells are expected to yield net-zero emission electricity to ships by running on e-methanol produced from green hydrogen.
Dr. Vasilis Gregoriou, Advent’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented: “We are excited to be collaborating with a global leader in energy technology, aiming to contribute to their goal of creating sustainable and intelligent electrical power distribution solutions for superyachts, which are designed to deliver maximum performance while also being reliable and scalable. We are highly confident in the performance and the quality of our methanol-powered fuel cell products, and we look forward to the successful delivery of the first order and establishing a long and productive collaboration with our new marine partner.”
Dr. Emory De Castro, Advent’s Chief Technology Officer added: “We see an increasing consensus in the market that HT-PEM is ideal for marine applications. Unlike low temperature PEM, HT-PEM works very well with methanol and e-fuels and is a more compact and low-cost solution than solid oxide fuel cell technology which tends to be suitable for power plants.”