The world’s first infrastructure designed for hydrogen refueling for recreational boating will be created in Venice. The project, by the company NatPower H, is part of an ambitious plan that includes an agreement with 25 Italian marinas and ports and a partnership with Zaha Hadid Architects.
To present the station to be built at the Marina di Sant’Elena in Venice, NatPower H showed up at the VeniceBoat Show with aboat equipped with green hydrogen propulsion. The boat is the result of a collaboration with the Norwegian company Hyrex, which specializes in the design and development of propulsion technologies for boating (commercial and recreational) that exploit hydrogen. It is 9.5 meters long, and there are two tanks of 8 kg each on board to hold green hydrogen and provide a total range of 16 hours. This first step, in which NatPower H has been personally involved, is evidence that hydrogen boating can be areal (and equally sustainable) alternative to electric boating.
When will the Venice station be operational
The new green hydrogen refueling infrastructure will be built soon, thanks to a total investment of 100 million euros. NatPower H assures that the station will be operational by the end of summer 2024, and will be the first node in a network that can already count on the support of 25 other Italian ports and marinas, which will make up a true green hydrogen network. Indeed, in NatPowerH’s plans there is a desire to reach 100 green hydrogen fueling stations in the next 6 years.
In fact, one of the biggest obstacles to the establishment of electric boating is the poor ubiquity of charging stations. A problem that greatly limits the spread of electric propulsion technology, driving many people away from buying-and many yards away from developing-an electric boat, just as in the automobile world (although things are changing). NatPower H intends to overcome this obstacle because its plan already includes the establishment of a network of ports and marinas equipped with refueling stations, well distributed in Mediterranean, national and international waters.
How green hydrogen refueling works
The experience of hydrogen refueling for boating is quite similar to what is already happening with cars and trucks (where this technology is spreading). You pull up with the boat to the filling station, just as you would to fill up with gasoline or diesel fuel, and connect the nozzle of the filling station with the nozzle of the boat. The transfer of green hydrogen occurs due to the pressure difference between the station and the boat’s tank, and the process-though automated-is constantly monitored by station operators.
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