CCS nod paves way for China's first hydrogen fuel cell-powered ship

Ship classification society China Classification Society (CCS) has approved China’s “first domestic” hydrogen fuel cell-powered ship.

PHOTO: The hydrogen fuel cell-powered ship Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat 1. CCS

The catamaran passenger ship named Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat 1 has been built by Jianglong Shipbuilding Technology for the Chinese utilities company China Yangtze Power.

Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat 1 uses a 500-kilowatt (kW) hydrogen fuel stack to propel itself and is equipped lithium batteries with 1,800-kilowatt hour (kWh) capacity. The ship’s fuel cell system and lithium battery system has been designed by the 712th Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Corporation.

The vessel has been put into operation in the Guangdong province of the country. It will be used for “transportation, patrol and emergency in the Three Gorges reservoir area,” according to Chinese state-run news channel CGTN.

The launch of Three Gorges Hydrogen Boat 1 “will provide an important theoretical basis and data support for the subsequent promotion of hydrogen fuel cell ships” in the country, CCS says.

By Tuhin Roy

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