HD Hyundai announced on the 19th that its shipbuilding intermediate holding company, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, has embarked on a joint development project with the leading German cruise line TUI Cruises to apply Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) systems to cruise ships.

HD Hyundai enters into a joint development agreement for the application of SOFC systems on cruise ships at the HD Europe Research Center located in Düsseldorf, Germany. (From left: Luka RITT Approval Engineer, Christian Lerche Director Fleet Operation&Health, Executive Director Yeom Gu-seop, Head of HD Europe Research Center, Byeon Jun-young, Head of HD Hydrogen Business Development Team, Kim Min-seok, Head of Ship Fuel Cell System Research at HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering). /Courtesy of HD Hyundai

The HD Europe Research Center, HD Hydrogen, and the Norwegian classification society DNV are also participating in this project to develop SOFC technology and its application for cruise ships. SOFC is a high-efficiency fuel cell that produces electricity by reacting hydrogen, generated from natural gas and ammonia, with oxygen.

SOFC generates electricity without combustion, significantly reducing carbon and pollutant emissions, and is evaluated to satisfy both environmental sustainability and operational efficiency, as it is more efficient than conventional power generation engines. In particular, its low noise and vibration, combined with high power generation efficiency, make it a suitable method for power-hungry cruise ships.

HD Hyundai aims to secure market competitiveness with the SOFC technology applicable to cruise ships to target the European market, where environmental regulations are strict and demand is high. According to Grand View Research, the global SOFC market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 40.7% until 2030, reaching approximately 9.8133 trillion won.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and the HD Europe Research Center will establish safety design standards over the next eight months, until February of next year, as the first stage to apply the SOFC system to a real cruise ship. HD Hydrogen plans to analyze the performance of its self-developed SOFC system under various operating environments based on key data.

Due to the characteristics of SOFC, which operates at high temperatures between 600 and 1,000 degrees Celsius, technology will also be developed to recover and recycle waste heat generated during operation. There are also plans to develop solutions to reduce the carbon emitted from the SOFC system by utilizing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

The Norwegian classification society DNV aims to ensure structural safety and regulatory compliance that meets classification certification standards from the early design phase, while TUI Cruises plans to share data on cruise ships that can apply the SOFC system, along with installation requirements and operational demands for using actual vessels.

An official from HD Hyundai noted, "This international joint development project will be an important milestone in demonstrating HD Hyundai's world-class decarbonization ship technology in Europe," adding, "We will lead the decarbonization of the seas with low-carbon, high-efficiency fuel cell technology."