HAV Design working to build an ammonia-fueled wellboat

Fosnavåg, Norway-based HAV Design, along with North Salmon Service, have received funding from Enova to develop a wellboat that can use ammonia as fuel.

North Salmon Service currently operates two wellboats for Nova Sea, Salten Aqua, and other customers. The project, a release from HAV Design said, will through a six-month preliminary project develop a wellboat equipped with a dual-fuel engine that is intended to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

“As wellboat operator we have a strong desire to contribute towards limiting our climate and environmental footprint associated with production of salmon,” North Salmon Service Managing Director Arnt Erling Paulsen said. “That is why we want to assess the possibility of developing a wellboat that through use of ammonia as ship fuel may have zero emission potential.”

Ammonia, an inorganic chemical compound, contains both nitrogen and hydrogen. As a fuel, it technically contains more energy than liquid hydrogen, containing 15.6 megajoules per liter according to the Ammonia Energy Association.

Ammonia, HAV Design said, is “interesting” as a ship fuel as it is easily compressible and can be stored as a liquid. Those properties, the company said, allow it to be bunkered on board ships easily. The maritime industry, it added, already has experience dealing with ammonia as it is carried on board vessels both as a cargo and as a refrigerant.

Because ammonia is already used onboard vessels, there is also existing infrastructure for storing and distributing ammonia at ports worldwide – reducing the need for additional infrastructure investment for a new type of fuel.

HAV Design said the two companies plan to work together to pool each other’s resources and competencies to design a functional wellboat that also maximizes its utilization of green fuels.

“We will together with North Salmon Service develop a wellboat concept that sails as effectively as possible, with associated reductions in emissions and operating costs,” HAV Design Vice President of Sales Jan Magne Goksøyr said. “We look forward to collaborating with North Salmon Service to realize their exiting wellboat plans and pave the way for zero emission shipping in the fish farming industry.” 

Image courtesy of HAV Design