On 16 May 2024 Green Navy, the French company launching ‘Prometeo’, Europe’s first electro-hydrogen propulsion catamaran for commercial passenger activities, announced increasing interest since construction was announced at the ‘Monaco Sustainable & Smart Marina Rendezvous 2023’ in late September 2023.
Ongoing production of ‘Prometeo’ is being coordinated at Merré shipyard in Nort-sur-Erdre, with the arrival of the twin hulls at Chaudronnerie Industrielle De Bretagne (CIB) in Brest. The launch for the important vessel will take place in spring 2025 and Green Navy is in talks with potential operators.
Ship owners and service operators are looking to find solutions to carbon neutrality. Professional shipowners are sharing their operational needs, allowing Green Navy to refine the quantity of energy on board and structure the balance between battery capacity and hydrogen storage.
The maritime industry is increasingly looking for cleaner and more sustainable propulsion options and there is a growing demand for eco-friendly transportation. At the recent Bretagne Renewable Hydrogen online breakfast conference, the HyPorts show in Toulon, and at Hyvolution in Paris in February, the team from Green Navy shared the advantages of storing hydrogen gas on board ships and the use of fuel cells across a range of marine applications from regular island hopping, to growing eco-tourism with local governments, institutional decision-makers, and industry partners.
Green Navy is at the forefront of energy transition to pioneer the decarbonisation of maritime transport. Offering the French maritime administration and class certification organisations, such as Bureau Veritas, an implementation and a hydrogen concept that proposes greater robustness and superior fire safety, detection and ventilation systems.
In France, several regions have committed to playing a leading role in decarbonisation by using hydrogen as a key tool. This is the case with the Région Bretagne with its renewable hydrogen roadmap to 2030, and the Région Sud with the Regional Hydrogen Plan, thus accelerating related investments towards mobility, so that the green maritime industry can develop rapidly.
