by Kyriakos Panopoulos, Director of Research, Centre for Research and Technology - Hellas (CERTH), Despoina Georgiou, Collaborating Researcher, CERTH, Michael Bampaou, Collaborating Researcher, CERTH, and Jari Ihonen, Principal Scientist, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Hydrogen and hydrogen-derived fuels are expected to play a critical role as future energy vectors for maritime applications, as clearly stated in the EU Hydrogen Strategy.

Fuel cells, particularly proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), utilizing hydrogen or hydrogen derivatives, have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional combustion engines, offering high efficiencies, lower emissions, and quiet operation.

However, maritime applications require higher power and much longer lifetimes than those developed and achieved so far by state-of-the-art fuel cell stacks and systems.

Download PDF