Almost £300,000 has been secured to deliver green fuel and energy infrastructure for vessels at Port of Grimsby.
The funding will be used to build a business case for significant investment, running alongside work to establish the town as the national Clean Maritime Demonstration Hub.
The bulk of the funding - from the Department for Transport and Innovate Ƶ-backed Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, will sit with the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult.
Read more: Immingham's pioneering green port plans progress with government grant bid win
It has already established its operations and maintenance centre of excellence in Grimsby.
Partners in the proposal include port operator ABP, Rix Shipping, Infrastrata Plc, Lloyd’s Register, TPG Maritime, Zero Emissions Maritime Technology, Wood Group and MJR Controls.
Together they will develop zero emission fuels and charging infrastructure at Port of Grimsby. All will have match-funding of contributions in an initial phase of the project valued at over £400,000.
The proposal describes the project as “harnessing the 'industry-pull' of the offshore wind industry as a 'springboard' for the adoption of clean maritime technologies,” with the project-team to undertake detailed feasibility to identify the infrastructure requirements to support clean maritime operations from the port.
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This will include zero emission fuel production, compression, storage, fuelling, metering and distribution infrastructure, as well as onshore and offshore electrical-charging capability.
Stuart Barnes, clean maritime innovation lead at ORE Catapult, said: “The result will be 'investment-ready' port-fuelling infrastructure and world-leading demonstration and certification support capability.
“This scale of demonstration will have the critical mass of industrial partners, and the long-term strategic approach required to bring together stakeholders from across the public and private-sector to work in partnership to break the 'chicken and egg' impasse which stymies the rapid expedition of clean-maritime transition.”
It comes as the town has been selected by Orsted and partners to be the test bed for green hydrogen production from offshore wind, while the world-leading developer welcomes a fleet of three battery-supported vessels to serve Hornsea Two offshore wind farm’s construction.
Earlier this year a first operational assignment was completed with a vessel using hydrogenated vegetable oil as fuel, with Seacat Services working for RWE on the Triton Knoll wind farm, also in construction.
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