This New 190-Foot Sailing Catamaran Concept Can Make and Stores Hydrogen Fuel

Drift Energy is confident that its new catamaran concept will have a positive effect on the environment. So confident, in fact, that it has named it the Most Valuable Yacht, or MVY for short.

The newcomer, which was unveiled at this year’s Monaco Yacht Show, will have the ability to generate, store, and deliver green hydrogen while at sea. Producing this zero-carbon fuel will give MVY real value in the marine industry and beyond, hence the vessel’s name.

The British start-up tapped Shadowcat to help with design. Founded by Robert Smith, Shadowcat specializes in building support catamarans that range from small 79-footers to 295-foot behemoths. This particular sailing yacht spans 190 feet and is capable of producing more than 154 tons of green hydrogen a year. (Drift’s 18-foot flying yacht has already successfully produced the gas while flying over the waves off the coast of Essex.)

How does it work? MVY generates electricity using turbines that capture the kinetic energy of the sails. It is then stored onboard as green hydrogen. When the storage tanks are nearly full, the vessel will head to a designated port or location to offload. Alternatively, the cat could drop the fuel off directly to the mothership.

“The vast majority of the world’s renewable energy is over the oceans, so what better way to harvest it than using sailing vessels?” Drift Energy founder and CEO Ben Medland said in a statement.

MVY could support not just the marine industry, but small island nations and the like, too. “This initiative unlocks the potential of truly green hydrogen wherever and whenever it is needed and its scalability allows for endless opportunity in supplying power to island nations and coastal communities in fairly short order,” Shadowcat’s director of business development Jennifer Johnston Smith told Robb Report via email.

In fact, Drift claims the technology could abate more than 1,600 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year and a gigaton of CO2 by 2050. The company adds that owners “looking to spearhead the charge” can work with the team to make the transition to the tech, adding that you will enjoy your own “exclusive sustainable and secure green fuel supply.”