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Startup believes AI-guided hydrofoil flotilla is key to green hydrogen

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Drift Energy recently produced the first green hydrogen aboard its prototype sailing yacht, an effort it calls a world first
Drift Energy
Drift Energy recently produced the first green hydrogen aboard its prototype sailing yacht, an effort it calls a world first
Drift Energy
Drift Energy recently produced the first green hydrogen aboard its prototype sailing yacht, an effort it calls a world first
Drift Energy
By producing energy on the yachts themselves, Drift skips past much of the infrastructure and resources needed for traditional sea-based wind energy
Drift Energy
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Wind power is a promising source of green energy and one that could feature in the production of green hydrogen. UK startup Drift Energy shows a different spin on that idea. Instead of creating windmill-derived electricity, its plan involves using AI-routed hydrofoil sailing yachts to generate the electricity required for electrolysis. Those yachts would then deliver green hydrogen to ports around the world for use as a power source.

Drift plans its yacht-based energy system as a highly flexible, decentralized generation and distribution solution, using green hydrogen as the storage medium. The idea is for its hydrofoil sailboats to convert wind power into electricity by pulling underwater turbine-generators through, in turn powering the electrolysis that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen would then be carried to nearby ports and distributed to customers.

The ocean isn't merely used to power Drift's turbines but also as the raw material for electrolysis. Each yacht would be equipped with an electrolysis plant capable of producing megawatts of hydrogen out of readily available seawater. Tonnes of hydrogen could then stored in commercial-grade tanks on the vessel before being transported back to shore.

Drift sailing yachts would operate in flexible flotillas, deployed around the globe to major ports closest to customer bases. In this way, they could be located exactly where they're needed most and easily moved to other areas when demand shifts. Drift believes it can build and deploy individual flotillas in 1/10 the time it would take to plan and build an offshore wind farm of comparable capacity.

By producing energy on the yachts themselves, Drift skips past much of the infrastructure and resources needed for traditional sea-based wind energy
Drift Energy

Drift's sailing yacht prototype was adapted from a secondhand vessel built by its partner White Formula. A hydrofoil construction was an obvious choice based on its ability to cut drag and more efficiently turn wind power into the forward momentum driving the underwater turbines. Drift's hydrofoil design derives from the Americas Cup and Vendee Globe racing series.

While the Drift "flying yacht" is the face of the idea, the autonomous system navigating the fleet is the make-or-break secret to its success. Using a combination of traditional weather forecasting and artificial intelligence, the navigation software is tasked with adjusting the course of weeklong trips to ensure the best combination of wind and wave conditions for sustained power generation. The idea is for the yacht fleets to always be operating as efficiently as possible. The software can also react to real-time market shifts, rerouting boats to ports with higher demand.

Using this efficiency-optimization software, Drift's AI partner Faculty projects that the hydrofoil fleets could more than double the existing load factors of UK wind farms. Load factor is a ratio showing the amount of energy actually being produced to a system's maximum production potential over a period of time.

There's still a lot of "ifs" and unproven cutting-edge concepts in the Drift ecosystem, but the company announced its first successful sea trial last week. Its prototype yacht was able to produce 6 liters of green hydrogen in a two-hour test off the coast of Brightlingsea, exceeding company expectations.

"This is a real breakthrough in the creation of a net new renewable energy class, which is mobile, scalable and anti-fragile," Drift founder and CEO Ben Medland said after the trial. "We knew from computer modeling our concept had huge potential as it is essentially a mosaic of proven technologies such as commercial electrolysis units, turbines and hydrogen storage tanks. These first sea trials prove our energy yachts work in the real world."

Drift realizes it won't crack the green energy problem alone, calling itself an "AND" solution meant to complement existing green energy systems. As its next steps, the company will conduct additional sea trials, move forward with plans for sailing yachts capable of producing hydrogen at rates of 250,000+ liters per hour, and get multiple vessels working together for the first time. It will also be attending the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Plymouth, England on July 30 and 31.

Source: Drift Energy

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5 comments
TechGazer
I'll let investors do the economic analysis to figure out whether this would be a profitable method of producing hydrogen. The one obvious advantage over regular offshore windfarms is that it can use areas rich in wind energy and not ruin the view of wealthy homeowners.
skierpage
So their prototype made 3 liters of hydrogen in an hour. Is that liters of gas, which is negligible, or liters of compressed or liquefied hydrogen, which requires more equipment? Reputable companies report hydrogen production in kilograms to accurately indicate the amount of hydrogen produced. Whatever the actually amount of H2 produced is, somehow Drift think they can scale it up to 80,000× that production rate per yacht ??!!!

The cost and maintenance of the yacht together with the undersea turbine plus electrolyzers and storage tanks make this idea highly unlikely to ever be financially worthwhile. Instead of generating electricity from wind, this generates forward motion from wind, then uses it to drive an underwater generator. The inefficiency is vast. Meanwhile a three megawatt ocean wind turbine can produce generally useful electricity that can flow anywhere you want to put an electrolyzer, and in some limited circumstances can generate hydrogen locally and pipe it to shore. We don't manufacture goods onboard ships, instead we make them onshore in volume where it's cheapest and then using efficient shipping to get the goods where they're wanted.

Like gravity energy storage, this isn't quite a scam, but it's unlikely to be worth the detours.
michael_dowling
skierpage: Agree completely. Power stored as H2 is a grossly inefficient way for producing green energy. Why not just charge Li-ion batteries which could be exchanged for empty batteries in port? This chart is informative,although it is for land vehicles: https://insideevs.com/news/332584/efficiency-compared-battery-electric-73-hydrogen-22-ice-13/
The Doubter
skierpage: You're right on the dot. The idea is too far fetched to succeed.
christopher
The ocean (and clingy life in it) is cruel beyond comprehension - maintenance alone with consume 200% of their possible income...
Cute idea and nice dream though.