The maritime industry, which is a hard-to-decarbonize sector, is actively seeking for alternate solutions/technology which can make it more climate friendly but at the same time does not compromise on the current performance levels.
The Multifuel SOFC system with Maritime energy vectors (FuelSOME) project, kick-off meeting took place physically in Graz, Austria under the coordination of AVL, on September 21st-22nd 2022.
The project officially started on September 1st, 2022 and is scheduled to run for 48 months. 7 organizations from 6 European Member States and 1 partner from a non-associated third country (Switzerland), make up the Consortium of this exciting and challenging project.
During the 2-day meeting, the Consortium partners discussed and agreed on their roles, responsibilities, actions, and activities as indicated in the project’s implementation time plan. The meeting counted with partners’ introductions, a presentation of the vision and main objectives of the project and the expected programme. An overview of the overall project expectations and guidelines by the European Commission, and the planned tasks in every one of the work packages of the project was presented along with the advisory board members introduction. Each Consortium partner brings to the consortium unique expertise, essential for the development of the project.
This newly funded Horizon Europe project is paving the way for establishing the technological feasibility of a flexible, scalable, and multi-fuel capable energy generation system based on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells technology specially catered for long-distance maritime shipping. The outcomes generated will not only benefit the maritime industry but will also serve as a blueprint for implementing the same technology in other hard to abate emission sectors and/or, thereby enabling multifuel energy generators to become the norm in the future.
As a research and innovation concept, FuelSOME aims to develop a novel multifuel energy generation system based on SOFC technology called the FuelSOME system. Special thanks to CINEA – European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency for their support in getting FuelSOME off the ground.