A United Kingdom startup is set to create a fleet of autonomous sailboats designed to harness wind power and produce and deliver green hydrogen.
A prototype by Drift was the first vessel in the world to produce and store green hydrogen at sea during a successful trial off the coast of Brightlingsea, Essex, in 2022, generating six litres a two-hour test run, which exceeded predictions.
Now the firm, founded by a former BAE engineer and Accenture consultant, has secured £4.65 million (€5.48 million) in a seed funding round featuring input from “deep tech” leaders Octopus Ventures and Blue Action Accelerator. It also recently received funding from the UK’s innovation agency. With that money the firm will continue its work towards the generation of so-called green hydrogen through a fleet of “modern, high-performance sailing vessels” that will “cruise around the world’s tradewinds harvesting energy from underwater turbines.”
Founder and CEO, Ben Medland, said Drift is “thrilled” with its new partners and said the funding “enables us to drive with momentum into the next phase of our mission. We will work closely with Octopus and our advisory teams to bring our vision of ‘Oceans of Energy’ to life with that all-important first net positive ship.”
Storage and distribution are part of the equation too, using an on-board “megawatt class electrolyser to produce and store gigawatts of green hydrogen” standard 40 feet containers. The hydrogen will be distributed thanks to an AI guidance system that will allow the yachts to detect the “optimum weather conditions” so that they deliver to port at the precise moment they are full. The vessels are also conceived to “shadow” other ships to help them reach zero emission goals and increase their independence at sea.
In particular, Drift says, the seed funding is due to “bolster the company’s vessel design program, support team growth and enable the onboarding of new partners as the company plans its first keel laying in 2025.”
The race to find reliable and stable ways to generate and transport green hydrogen is preoccupying some of the planet’s most innovative minds. Green hydrogen from electrolysis has a lower carbon footprint than traditional hydrogen fuel which requires the release of natural gas and steam methane.
Trials will now continue, growing the size of the sailboats, which can essentially be thought of as mobile windfarms. The aim is to produce MVY (most valuable yacht) class superyachts. At 58 m-long and with a power rating of 1-2 megawatts, they will each be capable of producing 150,000 kg of hydrogen per year, according to Drift.
