For the past eight years, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has worked to develop the first-ever hydrogen-hybrid vessel, which would replace the diesel-powered Robert Gordon Sproul ship that was built in 1981.
The project relies on state and federal funding and was projected to be completed by 2029, but a recent cut to federal funding has brought the project to a halt.
”We’ve got a completely mature and ready-to-build design for this hydrogen-hybrid vessel,” Bruce Appelgate, the associate director of ship operations and marine technical support at Scripps, said Thursday.
Appelgate said creating a vessel like the hydrogen-hybrid has been in the works since 2017. After a feasibility study was completed on the project, around $35 million was awarded to the state specifically for the vessel.
More money was expected to come down the pipeline to an entity known as the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems. Appelgate said ARCHES was established as a collaboration led by the University of California to compete for the Department of Energy’s solicitation. Eight billion dollars was provided by the bipartisan infrastructure law to support the development of hubs of hydrogen production to use throughout the United States, according to Appelgate.
“California was awarded the biggest chunk out of any hydrogen hub,” Appelgate said.
Arches ended up with $1.2 billion, and, of that, around $20 million was earmarked for the Scripps vessel.
The ship would be the first of its kind, said Appelgate, and would be whisper quiet, which would be a game-changer for researchers measuring ocean acoustics. He said it would also be an opportunity to make energy from resources that already exist.
”We would use liquid hydrogen and fuel cells to make electricity on the vessel, and that would power the ship and provide all the power it needs to stay out for 75% of its missions, with entirely zero emissions operations,” Appelgate said.
Recently, Appelgate said, permits were issued and solicitations for bids sent out to shipyards for the future construction of the vessel, but, as of Oct. 1, the project is at a standstill.
“It was heartbreaking,” Appelgate said.
On that date, ARCHES received a letter from the Department of Energy to cease all project activities, referencing its secretarial memorandum, Ensuring Responsibility for Financial Assistance. According to DOE, it is policy to “ensure that financial-assistance award recipients and the individual projects are, among other things, financially sound and economically viable, aligned with national and economic security interests, and consistent with federal law and this administration’s policies and priorities and program goals and priorities.”
The decision impacts several clean energy projects that were funded by the department.
On the day of the announcement, ARCHES CEO Angelina Galiteva said, in part, “Today’s decision to withdraw federal funding for ARCHES ignores the critical benefits our projects will deliver — including 220,000 American jobs and stronger national energy security and resilience.”
“We really need to reconsider how we can achieve the most important goal, which is taking our students and researchers out to sea,” Appelgate said.
Those researchers include PhD candidate Andrea Rodriguez-Marin Freudmann, who is studying internal waves at Scripps.
“Any new research vessel Is exciting,” Rodriguez-Marin Freudmann said.
Rodriguez-Marin Freudmann’s studies rely on hands-on, career-preparing excursions.
“We got the experience of writing a grant, getting funded, getting the ship time, planning the crew’s plan,” Rodriguez-Marin Freudmann said.
Supporting sea-going scientists is a mission at Scripps that, Appelgate said, will continue to be prioritized.
“With the loss of this $20 million through ARCHES, we have to keep in mind what our fundamental mission is, which is to take our students and scientists out to sea, so we’ve gotta come up with something,” Appelgate said.
