Special delivery service: Green hydrogen submarines are on their way

A world-first green submarine project will soon get underway after a proposal to power an autonomous underwater vessel with green hydrogen won a share of a United Kingdom £23 million funding program.

Start-up company Oceanways is to build a prototype of a zero emission submarine initially designed to deliver cargo in a twenty-foot container between Glasgow and Belfast. 

As the green submarines move underwater, they will also filter microplastics and microfibres out of the ocean, and collect information and data on ocean health and acidification via a number of onboard sensors. 

“Oceanways has assembled a world-class team to pioneer #SubZero by creating the new market of net positive underwater transport systems with zero-emission cargo submarines as an innovative tool to decarbonise shipping and clean up our ocean”, Oceanways founder and chief executive Dhruv Boruah said.

The UK government is committed to commercialising zero emissions shipping by 2025 and establishing the country as a world leader in clean maritime.

Fifty-five projects shared in the first round of green maritime research and demonstration funding.

“As a proud island nation built on our maritime prowess, it is only right that we lead by example when it comes to decarbonising the sector and building back greener”, the UK’s transport secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.

He said the projects funded “showcase the best of British innovation”.

The announcement was made during London International Shipping Week, which began with the UK calling on the maritime sector to achieve “absolute zero” emissions by 2050. 

In April, the UK government legislated new emissions targets, for the first time including the country’s share of international aviation and shipping emissions.

“Jet Zero and greener maritime” is one of the points in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, unveiled in November last year.