SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The world’s first hydrogen-powered commercial passenger ferry will begin operating in San Francisco Bay as part of plans to phase out diesel-powered vessels and reduce planet-warming carbon emissions, officials said from California on Friday, demonstrating the ship.
The 70-foot catamaran called MV Sea Change will carry up to 75 passengers along the waterfront between Pier 41 and the downtown San Francisco ferry terminal starting July 19, officials said. The service will be free for six months while it is running as part of a pilot program.
“The implications for this are huge because this is not the last stop,” said Jim Wunderman, president of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which operates ferries across the bay. there will be more of these ships in our fleet and in other people’s fleets in the United States and we think about the world.”
The Sea Change can travel around 300 nautical miles and operate for 16 hours before needing to refuel. Fuel cells produce electricity by combining oxygen and hydrogen in an electrochemical reaction that emits water as a byproduct.
The technology could help clean up the shipping industry, which produces nearly 3% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, officials said. That’s less than what you get from cars, trucks, trains or aviation, but it’s still a lot – and it’s rising.
Frank Wolak, president and CEO of the Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Energy Association, said the ferry is significant because it is difficult to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vessels.
“The real value of this is when you multiply it by the number of ferries operating around the world,” he said. “There is great potential here. This is how you can start reducing the carbon intensity of your ports.”
Advocates also hope that hydrogen fuel cells could eventually power container ships.
The International Maritime Organization, which regulates commercial shipping, wants to halve greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century.
As fossil fuel emissions continue to warm Earth’s atmosphere, the Biden administration is turning to hydrogen as an energy source for vehicles, manufacturing and electricity generation. It has offered $8 billion to entice the country’s industries, engineers and planners to figure out how to produce and supply clean hydrogen.
Environmental groups say hydrogen poses its own pollution and climate risks.
For now, the hydrogen produced annually worldwide, mainly for refineries and fertilizer production, is produced from natural gas. This process heats the planet instead of saving it. In fact, a new study by researchers at Cornell and Stanford universities found that most hydrogen production emits carbon dioxide, meaning hydrogen-powered transportation cannot yet be considered clean energy.
However, proponents of hydrogen-powered transportation say that in the long term, hydrogen production is poised to become more environmentally safe. They predict increasing use of electricity from wind and solar energy, which can separate hydrogen and oxygen in water. As these renewable forms of energy gain wider use, hydrogen production is expected to become a cleaner and less expensive process.
The Sea Change project was financed and managed by the investment company SWITCH Maritime. The ship was built at Bay Ship and Yacht in Alameda, California, and All-American Marine in Bellingham, Washington.
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Associated Press journalist Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.
