CLIPPER 2.0: ECONOMICAL AND TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF DECARBONISATION HIGH-SPEED PUBLIC WATER TRANSPORT ON THE RIVER THAMES

泰晤士河快船目前在泰晤士河上使用双体船提供公共交通服务，并将扩大其服务范围，包括使用类似双体船设计的货运。由于这些双体船在高速运行时，动力装置很大，目前由柴油发动机提供。泰晤士河快船面临着越来越多的法规和商业压力，需要提供零排放的解决方案。零排放推进系统具有足够的自主性，可以在河上进行日常高速运行，这意味着需要大量的低能量密度燃料。将这种燃料量与其他操作需求（如乘客座位容量或货运量）一起装入双体船是一个复杂的问题。虽然用于船舶推进的燃料电池电力驱动系统现在已经成为成熟的技术，但燃料的选择仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。因此，泰晤士快船提出了一项可行性研究，将这种推进系统集成到他们的双体船平台上，用于新的双体船，并改装到他们现有的一些船队中。关键目标是在当前双体船平台的设计约束下，更好地了解三种零碳燃料候选产品的经济和技术驱动因素，即速度、载客量和货运能力、有限的主要尺寸、空气吃水等。可能的燃料选择是压缩氢气、液态氢和甲醇。研究结果将允许泰晤士快船为其船队扩展和改造提供最具商业效益的客运和货运服务的理想推进套件做出明智的未来选择。泰晤士快船队由Mayfair Marine作为氢气船舶顾问，船级社DNV作为监管支持和双体船设计师one23 Naval Architects提供支持。计划进行可行性研究，调查双体船平台的经济、技术、监管和运营方面，同时考虑燃料的选择。将评估每种燃料选择的效率机会，例如利用液态氢的低温潜热为空调系统提供动力等。将评估每个燃料路径（即从源头到推进尾流的排放和成本），以确定商业影响。与CMDC的另一个应用程序HOST项目（Thames Clippers也是该项目的合作伙伴）的信息交换将提高在Thames Gateway内建立燃料路径成本的准确性。预计替代燃料比传统燃料更昂贵，经济上的理解，即商业影响，与技术可行性同样重要。

Thames Clippers currently provides public transport on the river Thames with catamarans and will expand its services to include freight using a similar catamaran design. As these catamarans operate at high-speed the power installead is large and currently provided via diesel engines. Thames Clippers face increasing regulations and commercial pressure to provide a zero emission solution.Zero emission propulsion systems with sufficient autonomy at high speeds for daily operation on the river infers that a substantial quantity of a low energy density fuel by volume is required. Fitting this fuel volume inside the catamaran together with other operational demands, such as passenger seat capacity or freight volumes, is a complex problem. Although fuel cell electric drive systems for marine propulsion are now becoming mature technology, the fuel choice remains an open question. Consequently, Thames Clippers proposes a feasibility study to integrate such a propulsion system into their catamaran platform for new catamarans and retrofitting into some of their existing fleet.The key objective is to gain a better understanding of economic and technical driving factors of three zero carbon fuel candidates within the design constraints of the current catamaran platform, i.e., speed, passenger and freight capacities, limited main dimensions, air-draught, etc. The likely fuel choices are compressed hydrogen gas, liquid hydrogen and methanol. The result of the study will allow Thames Clippers to make an informed future choice for their ideal propulsion package for their fleet extension and retrofit options for passenger and freight services with the most commercially beneficial fuel.Thames Clippers is supported by Mayfair Marine as a hydrogen marine consultant, Class Society DNV for regulatory support and catamaran designers One2three Naval Architects. A feasibility study is planned to investigate economic, technical, regulatory and operational aspects of the catamaran platform whilst considering the fuel choices. Efficiency opportunities for each fuel choice will be evaluated, for instance using the cryogenic latent heat of liquid hydrogen to power the air-conditioning system, amongst others.Each fuel path (i.e., emissions and costs from source to propelled wake) will be evaluated to determine the commercial impact. An information exchange with another CMDC application, project HOST where Thames Clippers is also a partner, will improve the accuracy of establishing the fuel path costs within the Thames Gateway. Expecting that alternative fuels are more expensive compared to conventional fuels, the economic understanding, i.e., commercial impact, is equally important as the technical feasibility.