Feasibility of Ultra-Long-Endurance Hydrogen-Powered Uncrewed Surface Vessels

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ACUA Ocean is a clean-maritime start-up that has designed a long-endurance liquid hydrogen-powered uncrewed surface vessel (H-USV).The oceans and "blue economy" is estimated to deliver US$3tr economic value by 2030 and create 237m full-time jobs (Koehring,2019), yet we lack the technology to sustainably and cost-effectively protect and manage our oceans and waterways.Autonomous uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) have the potential to offer a scalable solution to manage and monitor maritime activities. However, most USVs available on the market today have limited commercial viability due to low endurance or restricted payload capacities, making them unsuitable for true offshore operations.To achieve extended ranges with high-power payloads, USVs currently rely on diesel generators with high CO2 emissions and require regular manned maintenance that limits their maximum achievable endurance.To solve this challenge, ACUA Ocean has developed a hydrogen-powered USV (H-USV) for safety, security and environmental monitoring and management of offshore infrastructure, ports, and marine protected areas. With an endurance of 70days at 5knots and a peak speed of 20knots ACUA Ocean's vessels can track vessels and provide environmental data using a suite of onboard sensors, communicate using VHF and LRAD systems whilst recording HD and thermal video for use as evidence.Our H-USV can be manufactured at scale, reducing capital costs by 30%, allowing for cost-effective operations that are 50% cheaper than manned vessels throughout their lifespan.The use of H-USVs will reduce operational CO2 emissions by up to 99.3% and offer reduced maintenance and refuelling requirements compared to existing manned solutions, without sacrificing on power. This allows for increased range, speed and endurance, increasing onsite operations.Working with Lloyds Register and the University of Southampton's Marine & Maritime Institute we will test the feasibility of the regulatory, technical, operational and commercial environments for the design and operation of AO's patent pending H-USVs.Development of the regulatory environment and technical design of H-USVs will support the development of technologies supporting the transition to Net Zero by 2050\. The foundational regulatory, operational and technical deliverables and know-how from this feasibility study will enable the accelerated adoption of multiple types of liquid hydrogen powered vessels across the maritime industry.Longer-term, this project has the potential to deliver significant numbers of highly skilled, cleantech jobs to the maritime industry through the re-skilling of mariners from the fishing and defence industry from geographically remote and rural communities to become USV operators.