Coastal communities across the UK are set to receive a share of a new 30 million GBP funding pot for the decarbonisation of shipping and ‘powering up’ of local economies.
Announced by the Maritime Minister, Mike Kane, during a visit to Clydeport, Glasgow, companies will be given a share of funding to support the development of clean maritime fuels and technologies including ammonia, hydrogen, methanol, solar and electric.
Coastal communities across the UK will receive a share of £30 million to make shipping and sea travel greenerFunding will be awarded as part of the sixth round of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC), which has thus far provided more than 136 million GBP to 142 organisations as part of the wider UK SHORE funding for more than 300 organisations, including 250 SMEs.
Projects successfully delivered so far include the installation of new electric chargepoint networks across ports, including at Aberdeen, the demonstration of an electric crew transfer vessel at Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm, and the demonstration of a green hydrogen shore power system at the port of Leith.
Maritime Minister, Mike Kane, said:It’s so exciting to see investment in green fuels and technologies spurring on skills, innovation and manufacturing across the UK, delivering on our Plan for Change missions to kickstart economic growth and become a clean energy superpower.
We’ve charted a course to net zero shipping by 2050 and this £30 million will be crucial in supporting the green fuels and technologies of the future, so we can clean up sea travel and trade.
During his visit to Clydeport, the Minister met with workers from the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, which is actively seeking to help Smart Green Shipping increase the manufacturing of the FastRig windsail.
Built in Glasgow; the wing sail can be installed onto vessels and aims to reduce fuel use and emissions by up to 40% per year and is one of a number of projects that received funding as part of the third round of the CMDC.
Chris Courtney, CEO, National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, said:Clean maritime is a vital part of a wider mission to decarbonise transport. Advanced manufacturing is critical to enable companies to scale up novel solutions that deliver emissions reductions and allow the creation of new jobs in these industries of the future.
We’ve spent the past 2 years working on the CMDC-funded MariLight projects, led by Glasgow-based Malin Marine Consultants, part of the Malin Group, supported by industry partners, where we demonstrated how advanced manufacturing can cut lead times, lower carbon, and enable localised production in shipbuilding. It’s great to see continued momentum through the programme, and we look forward to supporting Smart Green Shipping’s journey as it scales.
UK SHORE is also set to deliver 3.85 million GBP to the Clean Maritime Research Hub, which was formed from a consortium of 13 universities across the UK and is dedicated to conducting scientific research in clean maritime.
The funding injection will support the installation of a liquid hydrogen facility at Durham University, as well as provide funding for general research going forward.
