Plans to make investments of €103m or $117m in green hydrogen and e-methanol-fuelled ships in order to decarbonize maritime fleet of Netherlands have been approved by the European Commission.
The funds, to be made available under a Dutch state aid scheme, will be used to acquire green hydrogen and e-methanol-fuelled vessels and to upgrade existing vessels with propulsion systems powered by the fuels.
It is intended to help with the high initial expenses, and the direct grants are projected to be granted between 2027 and 2031.
The scheme applies to passenger and cargo vessels as well as work boats which are operating on shortsea routes.
Interestingly, hydrogen-based fuels are increasingly being considered as a means to decarbonize the maritime sector, which is looking to comply with the FuelEU Maritime mandates and the step to decarbonize maritime fleet of Netherlands is an important initiative.
This calls for ships to cut the intensity of greenhouse gases of their fuel mix by 2% relative to a baseline value of 2020, with targets getting increasingly stringent – 6% cut by 2030 and 80% by 2050.
Apparently, a recent EU-funded LH2 maritime demonstration project announced plans to set up two container ships powered by fuel cells on a standard route between the Netherlands and Norway.
Norway, while not an EU-state, is becoming a regional pioneer in clean shipping fuels and its government has recently pledged NOK 777m or $82m to invest in two hydrogen-fuelled and two ammonia-fuelled vessels, as part of a wider clean shipping programme whichi is worth NOK 1.3bn or $137m.
European hydrogen groups have additionally lately called on EU member states to assist with the initial phases of the clean shipping fuel market by way of a dual-sided auction arrangement.