Hyseas Energy
Hyseas Energy SAS is an engineering company developing fuel cell systems for commercial marine applications based on low temperature Proton-exchange membrane fuel cell. Created in 2015 by Captain Arnaud Vasquez and registered in the city of Cannes, France the company is owned in majority by its founder. Initially and primarily funded by him, the company received several small public fundings in 2016 and 2017 as well as investment from the company Hydrogen Helix operated by Dr Grover Coors. From 2020, the company now generates revenues.
Initial pilot project
In 2016 the company initiated a collaboration with a local marine transport company Bateliers de la Côte d'Azur for the development and build of 100% zero emission, hydrogen powered passenger ferry. The ship is to be operated in the bay of Toulon, France and reach the outer islands of Port Cros and Porquerolles. It will be powered by 2X300kW fuel cell systems developed by Hyseas energy and store 260kg of compressed gas hydrogen at 350bar. Given for a range of 120 nautical miles, the ship will not contain any internal combustion engines for backup but rather a battery of 200kWh to absorb transient loads and allow for safe return to port in case of necessity. On the shore side the local production and distribution will be done via water electrolysis powered by the local electrical grid. This solution was favoured by the local consortium responsible for the production and supply of the hydrogen fuel. The project won in 2019 a specific call for project initiated by the French Ministry of Ecology and Energy Transition pertaining to the establishment of a hydrogen ecosystem encompassing both usage and production in a mutually reinforcing concept. This call for project was initiated by the minister Nicolas Hulot[1] and the project is the only marine project in France funded under this specific call for project.
Hydrogen Marine Genset "HMG"
Based on Hyseas energy's proprietary fuel cell stack and feeding air technology, the entire system is developed to be an all inclusive design. This innovation is coupled with the initiative to consider from the ground up future existing and upcoming regulations. The basic system is capable of producing 100 kWe at, end of life, maximum rated power and 80 kWe at, end of life, nominal rated power. With the inclusion of the electrical power conditioning, It produces either direct current or alternative current depending on the final usage. Each systems are designed to be stacked up to three interconnected units functioning as one.
Safety management and internal standards: Hyregs®
Following the philosophy of voluntarily take safety regulations to the highest levels possible, the company took inspirations from various safety cultures and systems developed by the oil and gas industry but also the nuclear industry, construction industry and generally the science of Risk analysis (engineering).
The company registered on 2020 the website Hyregs with the intention of creating a platform for engineering and management safety best practices. Intended solely for the domain of maritime hydrogen and fuel cells applications, it will also take in consideration the various form of hydrogen storage beyond compressed gas and cryogenic liquid. With this effort, the company hopes to introduce and disseminate the notion of performance based safety where responsibilities are shifted from the regulator (prescriptive rules) to the operator (goal & performance based rules).
Training: Hyseas.Academy
With the introduction of any new technology onboard commercially operated ships, proper training for professional marine crew and engineers is a regulatory requirement. To this effect, the company registered in 2019 the website HySeas.Academy and recruited more engineers to construct a complete training framework with packaged modules destined to be approved by flag state authorities as well as classifications societies.
Patents and trademarks
In June 2016 the Arnaud Vasquez filled for a patent at the European Union Intellectual Property Office under the number FR3053022A1 "Banc de charge hybride" or Hybrid load bank making use of excess power available onboard ships during times of lesser demand to produce, store and subsequently use hydrogen in fuel cells, making hydrogen an energy storage vector and increasing dramatically zero emissions capacities of battery based hybrid power architectures.
Hyseas® and logos are a registered trademark in Europe under the numbers: 016425027 / 018430582 / 018428307
Hyregs® is a registered trademark in Europe under the provisory number: 018428304
MarHyTime® is a registered trademark in Europe under the provisory number: 018428301
References
- ↑ "Nicolas Hulot annonce son plan de déploiement de l'hydrogène pour la transition énergétique". Ministère de la Transition écologique (in français). Retrieved 2021-03-21.
External links
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