Public Funding for Collins River Enterprises Limited

This project develops previous results from CMDC1 feasibility study "Cross River Zero Emissions Ferry" (Project number 10008713) to a real-world demonstrator of the vessel and supporting infrastructure. The objectives being to build the vessel with all requisite regulatory approval and to construct and install infrastructure to support implementation on the example cross river route on the river Thames between Canary Wharf and Rotherhithe. The intent is the demonstration will exceed the minimum service period required under the funding to provide a long-term evaluation in terms of energy efficiency, emissions reductions, societal impacts, operating costs and to provide a continuing development platform for the refinement of autonomous energy management, modal controls / machine learning to further reduce energy consumption. The consortium is formed of the original project partners, Thames Clippers (vessel operations), BAE (propulsion and controls), Wight Shipyard Company (vessel / berth construction and systems integration), Beckett Rankine (civil engineering and infrastructure) and supporting sub-contractors. We have added Aqua superPower to provide additional support with shore-based charging and grid connection. All partners have a proven track record in their individual disciplines and working in teams with experience of delivering previous successful CMDC projects. The vessel concept is a passenger and bicycle ferry incorporating end embarkation / disembarkation on a flow through principle improving passenger experience, which in combination with automatic mooring, reduces turnround time and overall journey time. The purely electric propulsion combined with potential green / renewable electricity supply provides the opportunity for a truly zero emission waterborne passenger transit system. The opportunity to optimise energy usage by intelligent energy management enhances existing electric vessel technology by providing the opportunity to increase efficiency / minimise overall energy usage and additional stress on the supply grid associated with electrification projects, meeting targets of net zero by 2050\. The route chosen for the demonstration will remove a conventional diesel-powered vessel providing a significant reduction in emissions in the operating area. The demonstrator will also provide proof of concept with evidence it is capable of deployment on other routes both within the UK and overseas reinforcing the opportunity for wider exploitation by the UK based partners. The overall concept will enable new short cross river passenger ferry operations to be deployed easily with minimal shore side infrastructure development beyond power availability and the ability to install piles to accommodate the floating berths and brows to facilitate access from the river-banks.

Thames Clippers currently provides public transport on the river Thames with catamarans and will expand its services to include freight using a similar catamaran design. As these catamarans operate at high-speed the power installead is large and currently provided via diesel engines. Thames Clippers face increasing regulations and commercial pressure to provide a zero emission solution. Zero emission propulsion systems with sufficient autonomy at high speeds for daily operation on the river infers that a substantial quantity of a low energy density fuel by volume is required. Fitting this fuel volume inside the catamaran together with other operational demands, such as passenger seat capacity or freight volumes, is a complex problem. Although fuel cell electric drive systems for marine propulsion are now becoming mature technology, the fuel choice remains an open question. Consequently, Thames Clippers proposes a feasibility study to integrate such a propulsion system into their catamaran platform for new catamarans and retrofitting into some of their existing fleet. The key objective is to gain a better understanding of economic and technical driving factors of three zero carbon fuel candidates within the design constraints of the current catamaran platform, i.e., speed, passenger and freight capacities, limited main dimensions, air-draught, etc. The likely fuel choices are compressed hydrogen gas, liquid hydrogen and methanol. The result of the study will allow Thames Clippers to make an informed future choice for their ideal propulsion package for their fleet extension and retrofit options for passenger and freight services with the most commercially beneficial fuel. Thames Clippers is supported by Mayfair Marine as a hydrogen marine consultant, Class Society DNV for regulatory support and catamaran designers One2three Naval Architects. A feasibility study is planned to investigate economic, technical, regulatory and operational aspects of the catamaran platform whilst considering the fuel choices. Efficiency opportunities for each fuel choice will be evaluated, for instance using the cryogenic latent heat of liquid hydrogen to power the air-conditioning system, amongst others. Each fuel path (i.e., emissions and costs from source to propelled wake) will be evaluated to determine the commercial impact. An information exchange with another CMDC application, project HOST where Thames Clippers is also a partner, will improve the accuracy of establishing the fuel path costs within the Thames Gateway. Expecting that alternative fuels are more expensive compared to conventional fuels, the economic understanding, i.e., commercial impact, is equally important as the technical feasibility.

The HyFES (Hybrid Fusion Energy System) is a business led, collaborative project to further improve the benefits (lower fuel costs, reduced emissions) marine vessels gain from switching to a hybrid propulsion systems. HyFES is at the hub of an intelligent sensor network incorporating propulsion batteries, hotel/standby batteries and through the installation of Dynamic Resource Monitor (DRM) sensors, any other electrical equipment including engines and generators. HyFES will fuse together model and data based prognostic algorithms with algorithms designed to ensure optimal operation of system assets to ensure vessels make operational decisions based on through life costs of assets rather than focusing solely on fuel saving. The project brings together a consortium that spans the complete supply chain including Heriot-Watt and Southampton Universities, the High Speed Sustainable Manufacturing Institute (HSSMI), Custom and Contract Power Solutions (CCPS), Denchi Power, FM and MBNA Thames Clippers.