Australian Provaris Energy, former Global Energy Ventures (GEV), is making progress on the engineering and development of its H2Neo GH2 carrier, with the aim to achieve approval for construction in 2023.

According to Provaris, the detailed contract design package (CDP) for the 26,000 cbm carrier is 70% complete and on track for final delivery in June 2022.

Several work packages were compiled to provide an updated outline specification, general arrangement drawing, and other key design and engineering plans.

Provaris said that the packages are now being shared with shipyards for construction schedule and capital cost estimates, along with class societies, including the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), as part of the approval for the construction milestone targeted for mid-2023.

ABS Consulting was engaged for gas dispersion, fire, and explosion safety studies to allow verification of the safety issues of the vessel, especially related to the hydrogen storage tanks and cargo management.

Designing port solutions for compressed hydrogen

Additionally, Proverbs is advancing concept designs for the export and import of hydrogen in Asia and Europe with the expectation to adapt the base design to multiple locations.

For this purpose, the company hired Singapore-based Paaras Marine Solution to develop and assess port solutions for both the loading and unloading of compressed hydrogen using its carriers.

As informed, the scope of the appointment will include:

• Singapore: concept development of an unloading marine jetty facility in Singapore to receive the carriers for unloading and decompression of compressed hydrogen for local distribution;
• Port Melville, Tiwi Islands: evaluating existing marine facilities at Port Melville to accommodate the GH2 carriers including the loading facilities for compressed hydrogen; and
• Barge storage of compressed hydrogen: concept development of a storage barge will be considered for storing compressed hydrogen based on the requirements for intermittent or redundancy in the supply chain.

These concept designs will be included in the feasibility studies in progress for Tiwi H2 and HyEnergy, along with an analysis of compressed hydrogen with port operators now underway in Europe.

Martin Carolan, managing director and CEO, said: “Management has recently completed a visit to Europe and the UK to market Provaris’ compressed hydrogen solution, receiving an encouraging response given our target delivery for 2026.

“With the demand in Europe for import solutions starting from 2024-2026 the interest in transport solutions has increased given the focus on energy security and new gas infrastructure seeking approvals for gas imports required to demonstrate a hydrogen capability.”

Last year, the company secured approval in principle from ABS for the gas carrier designed to support the requirements of greenfield hydrogen projects being established for export.

To remind, the design of the compressed hydrogen ship (H2 Ship) tailored for the transport of zero-carbon energy was unveiled in October 2020.