Australia’s Provaris Energy has been granted approval in principle (AiP) by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for its gaseous hydrogen floating storage concept, H2Leo.
The unit has a design capacity range of 300t to 600t of hydrogen, expandable to up to 2,000t. The company said the unit is suitable for various hydrogen supply chains and applications, including bunkering for the maritime sector, intermittent/buffer storage for green hydrogen production, and long-duration storage for excess renewable energy.
The H2Leo will have two cargo tanks with independent isolation, safety valves, and manifolds for compressed hydrogen transfer. ABS has conducted risk and safety workshops to assess and mitigate hydrogen handling risks. Provaris said it will work with ABS for design approval, cargo tank testing, and construction. The H2Leo class will have a fixed beam and depth of 31m and 17m, respectively, with length and draft varying according to the specified cargo capacity.
The cost of large-scale static storage is currently estimated by external studies to be in the range of $1m to $2m per tonne of storage installed, while Provaris claims that the cost of its floating storage solution will target a capital cost of $0.2m to $0.3m per tonne, a cost difference which Provaris considers could make onshore static storage cost-prohibitive for large-scale hydrogen derivative projects, such as ammonia.
The development of H2Leo will run parallel to the remaining engineering and approvals for its H2Neo carrier, targeting prototype testing and final class approval later in 2023, with the unit set to become available in 2025.
