SAN FRANCISCO — The world’s first commercial passenger ferry powered by hydrogen will begin operating in San Francisco Bay, part of plans to phase out diesel-powered boats and reduce carbon emissions that are driving global warming, California officials said Friday during a demonstration of the vessel.
The 70-foot (21-meter) catamaran called the MV Sea Change will carry up to 75 passengers along the waterfront between Pier 41 and the ferry terminal in downtown San Francisco starting July 19, officials said. The service will be free for six months while it is operated as part of a pilot program.
“The implications of this are enormous, because this is not the last stop,” said Jim Wunderman, chairman of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which operates commuter ferries across the bay. “If we can pull this off successfully, there will be more of these vessels in our fleet and in other people’s fleets around the United States and we think around the world.”
Sea Change can travel about 300 nautical miles and operate for 16 hours before needing to be refueled. Its fuel cells produce electricity by combining oxygen and hydrogen in an electrochemical reaction that releases water as a byproduct.
The technology could help clean up the shipping industry, which produces nearly 3% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, officials say. That’s less than cars, trucks, rail or aviation, but still a lot — and growing.
Frank Wolak, president and CEO of Fuel Cell & According to the Hydrogen Energy Association, the ferry makes sense because it is difficult to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships.
“The real value of this is when you multiply it by the number of ferries that are operating globally,” he said. “There is a huge potential here. That’s how you can start to chip away at the carbon intensity of your ports.”
Proponents also hope that hydrogen fuel cells could eventually power container ships.
The International Maritime Organization, which regulates commercial shipping, wants to halve greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century.
As fossil fuel emissions continue to warm the Earth’s atmosphere, the Biden administration is focusing on hydrogen as an energy source for vehicles, manufacturing and electricity generation. It has offered $8 billion to entice the nation’s industries, engineers and planners to figure out how to produce and deliver clean hydrogen.
Environmental groups say hydrogen brings pollution and climate risks.
The hydrogen produced globally each year, mostly for refineries and fertilizer production, is now made from natural gas. That process is heating up the planet instead of saving it. A new study by researchers at Cornell and Stanford universities has found that most hydrogen production emits carbon dioxide, meaning hydrogen-powered transportation can’t yet be considered clean energy.
Still, proponents of hydrogen-powered transportation say that hydrogen production will become more environmentally friendly in the long run. They foresee increased use of electricity from wind and solar power, which can separate hydrogen and oxygen in water. As such renewable energy sources become more widely used, hydrogen production should become a cleaner, cheaper process.
The Sea Change project was financed and managed by the investment company SWITCH Maritime. The ship was built by Bay Ship and Yacht in Alameda, California, and All-American Marine in Bellingham, Washington.
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Associated Press journalist Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.