Baglietto has set an amibitous goal for itself. It’s striving for its yachts to have zero emissions while cruising. To that end, the shipyard has an initiative, B-Zero (B Raised to Zero). Under this, Baglietto and a few specialized partners are creating a prototype hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion system. Expected for completion next year, it should lead to all Baglietto deliveries set for 2025 having hydrogen fuel cells onboard.
Baglietto is collaborating with six companies for the prototype, and eventual real systems. Some are companies already involved in yachting, specifically the classification society RINA and Siemens Energy. The other companies, meanwhile, mostly include ones already active in hydrogen technology and fuel cells. The final company is a start-up striving to bring hydrogen technology into yachting.
Here’s how the B-Zero philosophy should work, briefly. Photovoltaic panels on the yacht’s upper decks will feed electricity to an electrolyzer. The electrolyzer (which could alternately draw power from the yacht’s electric grid) splits purified and de-ionized salt water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen stores in solid form at low pressure and room temperature, becoming electricity via the fuel cells. Next, a power-management system, similar to the one already in use on Baglietto’s hybrid megayachts, will handle the propulsion power needs and the hotel load needs. To absorb peak demands and sudden changes in electricity use, the B-Zero system further will include lithium-ion batteries in parallel with the fuel cells. Finally, the hydrogen fuel cells and batteries together will power the yacht’s electric motors for full electric mode.
Diego Michele Deprati, Baglietto’s CEO, notes how the writer Jules Verne stated that water’s components would eventually provide heat and light. “Almost 150 years later, that day has come,” he continues. “Baglietto wants to be a major player in this process.”
Apparently Baglietto does not intent to stop with B-Zero hydrogen fuel cells, either. It has set up a new department, Baglietto Energy, to study renewable energy sources.
Baglietto .baglietto.com
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