OXGRIN among Winners of UK’s biggest Clean Maritime Competition
An ambitious green ammonia shipping demonstration project, backed by a strong consortium consisting of Oxford Green Innotech (OXGRIN), Ocean Infinity, Shell, University of Oxford, and University of Southampton, has been awarded £2.7 million in the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.
The winners were announced yesterday (15 September 2021) by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps during the London International Shipping Week.
Using state-of-the-art ammonia cracking technologies developed by OXGRIN, the project will see uncrewed surface vessels powered by a hybrid green ammonia marine propulsion system (AMPS-USV). This forms the foundation of the larger vessels in Ocean Infinity’s green Armada fleet being able to operate using solely renewable fuel.
Dr. Simson Wu, C.E.O. and co-founder of OXGRIN said “Ammonia cracking is at the heart of green ammonia marine propulsion technologies as it dictates the efficiency of power management at a system level. The successful demonstration of this project will mark a significant milestone of green shipping and help to achieve the imminent carbon emissions reduction target. “
Ramsay Lind, business development manager at Ocean Infinity said “The CMDC project is in line with Ocean Infinity’s long-term target in building the world’s largest uncrewed green offshore fleet. Not only will this reduce the risks associated with people working in offshore environments, but it will also reduce the environment impact brought by carbon fuels”.
Combining sophisticated uncrewed robotic vessels with novel clean energy technologies, the innovative green shipping solution brought by the AMPS-USV project is going to put UK at the forefront across global maritime industries.
Details about the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition:
Announced in March 2020, and part of the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan to position the UK at the forefront of green shipbuilding and maritime technology, the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition is a £20m investment from government alongside a further c.£10mfrom industry to reduce emissions from the maritime sector. The programme is supporting projects across the UK, including projects in Scotland, Northern Ireland and from the South West to the North East of England. As set out in the Clean Maritime Plan (2019), Government funding has been used to support early stage research relating to clean maritime. The programme will be used to support the research, design and development of zero emission technology and infrastructure solutions for maritime and to accelerate decarbonisation in the sector.
