The Winz Maru. SMERT Design Co.,Ltd. / YouTube
In a world first, Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) successfully produced hydrogen offshore and delivered it onshore to Tokyo.
MOL produced the hydrogen offshore using its demonstration yacht, Winz Maru. The company’s vessel features an onboard plant that produces easily-transportable green hydrogen.
The Winz Maru demostrator is part of the Wind Hunter Project, which aims to create a green hydrogen supply chain. Japan is the world leader in green hydrogen technologies. These could play a key role in the country’s transition away from fossil fuels.
The Winz Maru
MOL’s Winz Maru vessel produced the hydrogen offshore and delivered it to the central breakwater area of Tokyo.
The MOL team produced green hydrogen and converted it to the liquid organic hydrogen carrier methylcyclohexane (MCH) aboard Winz Maru. This was to allow safer and more efficient transportation.
According to MOL, the operation marked the first time a ship has produced green hydrogen at sea for supply on land.
Winz Maru is a wind-powered sailing vessel. The ship generates electricity using underwater turbines and produces green hydrogen from seawater. The multi-purpose vessel was designed to produce, store, and deliver hydrogen energy.
MOL has been conducting demonstration tests in Omura Bay since 2023. The company has been working toward supplying domestically produced green hydrogen from Winz Maru to onshore facilities in Tokyo Bay.
According to a report by H2 View, MOL aims to produce roughly 100Nm3 (200 liters) of MCH in 2025. The firm also wants to supply electricity generated using hydrogen to facilities in Tokyo’s central breakwater area.
The company is also working towards supplying hydrogen. It is also investigating the possibility of demonstrating a larger vessel for the Wind Hunter Project, with a view to it going operational by the early 2030s.
Is green hydrogen the future?
Recent breakthroughs in hydrogen production are making it a more viable form of renewable energy. In 2023, for example, a team of researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia devised a cost-effective method for splitting seawater into hydrogen.
Japan is the world leader in hydrogen technologies. The country has strategically focused on green hydrogen as a next-generation green energy source. In its bid to go carbon neutral by 2050, it is relying heavily on the development of hydrogen technologies.
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The great benefit of hydrogen is that it can be used to generate electricity and heat without emitting carbon dioxide. As it can be extracted from water, it is abundantly available. However, as with all renewable energies, the world faces a great challenge in lowering the cost of hydrogen production.
