The Innovations

Hydrogen has a very high energy content: for the same weight, it contains up to three times more energy than diesel, and 2.5 times more than natural gas. That said, we know how to store natural gas in tanks or pipelines. Storing hydrogen is more difficult.

Currently, 95% of the world’s hydrogen supply is from fossil fuel, through a reforming process using methane, the main component of natural gas. Electrolysis using a renewable energy source is a solution for the future use of green hydrogen on a large scale.

The Energy Observer is equipped with a reverse-osmosis desalination system with several levels. When two volumes of water – one salty and the other not – are put together, natural movement is created: the fresh water is attracted to the salty water.

The 18th of April was an expected and important day for Energy Observer, which has equipped itself with a new technological brick for wind propulsion: two Oceanwings®, rotating, self-supporting and 100% automated, which will increase the vessel’s speed and produce hydrogen during navigation by sea water electrolysis.

Energy Observer has been examined with a fine-tooth comb. Every nook of its decks, floats and infrastructure is now fitted with custom photovoltaic panels. A technical conundrum for Hugo Devedeux, on-board engineer who is in charge of the solar component of the experimental catamaran optimization project.

The fuel cell is the centrepiece of the hydrogen chain. It converts the hydrogen into electricity by reversing the electrolysis process. The system on Energy Observer was tailor-made by CEA-Liten engineers and provides 20 kW of pure electric power.

The experimental catamaran has clocked up 16 months of full-on sailing. Roland Reynaud, engineer on board, and Didier Bouix, engineer at the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA-Liten) carried out a full check of Energy Observer’s on-board hydrogen chain. And all’s well!

Although it’s an inexhaustible resource at sea, wind is still difficult to exploit for large scale maritime transport. In its role as an experimental vessel, Energy Observer has set its mission to test all of the available and promising solutions.

Wind may be an infinite resource at sea, but its exploitation remains a challenge for large-scale maritime transport. During the first campaigns around France and in the Mediterranean sea, the Energy Observer tested two vertical-axis wind turbines for producing energy, and a traction kite to reduce energy consumption.

Solar energy is the primary source of energy production aboard the Energy Observer. The team enjoyed optimal sunshine whilst navigating in the Mediterranean where they fully exploited the potential of the photovoltaic panels covering the hulls, nacelle and wings of the craft.

Energy Observer has just come out of the water for a three-month technical pause. Three months of work during which the hydrogen powered catamaran will undergo optimizations and transformations before taking up its world tour again next spring.

Energy Observer is of course a marine vessel and a media platform, but above all it’s a floating laboratory. The crew has tasked itself to test, over six years and in extreme conditions, an innovative energy architecture, heralding tomorrow’s energy systems.