ÅLESUND, NORWAY: The Hellesylt Hydrogen Hub, a consortium of leading players in the hydrogen field, has been awarded NOK 37.6 million under the PILOT-E funding scheme for the development of a hydrogen production facility that can deliver hydrogen to ferries and cruise ships in the Geirangerfjord, as well as to other mobility applications.

The ambition is to achieve zero-emission operations in the Geirangerfjord, one of two World Heritage Fjords in Norway, by producing green hydrogen locally.

The consortium is headed by Flakk Gruppen with Hexagon Composites (hydrogen storage supplier), Hyon (hydrogen solutions integrator), TAFJORD (hydro power supplier), Fiskerstrand (ship design and yard), Gexcon (safety and risk management services), SINTEF (research institute) and the local municipality of Stranda as key partners.

“We are proud and grateful to receive the PILOT-E funding enabling us to develop a green hydrogen solution for the Geirangerfjord, a recognized World Heritage Fjord, together with our dedicated partners,” says Knut Flakk, Chairman and owner of Flakk Gruppen.

“We will be providing a green and sustainable hydrogen solution to the zero-emission transport and maritime industry in the region. We very much look forward to collaborating with customers to meet their individual needs with our solutions.”

Geiranger, a UNESCO World Heritage site, receives around 800,000 visitors a year – of which about 360,000 are cruise tourists. To tackle the local pollution, ships that are not zero-emission will be prohibited from entering the Geirangerfjord by 2026.

The project will start its activities in January 2020 and aims to deliver green hydrogen latest by 2023.

The hydrogen will be produced by renewable surplus hydro power at Hellesylt, powering hydrogen fuel cell ferries operating the route Hellesylt – Geiranger. This contribution could reduce the CO2 emissions in the Geirangerfjord with 2,370 tons per year. In addition, hydrogen will also be delivered to other vessels, trucks, buses and other vehicles in the region.

The PILOT-E scheme is a funding scheme for the Norwegian business sector launched as a collaboration between the Research Council, Innovation Norway and Enova SF. The objective of the scheme is to promote more rapid development and deployment of new, environment-friendly energy technologies and services to help reduce emissions both in Norway and internationally.