Making Waves in Clean Maritime Innovation

We are pioneers of the clean maritime industry; working closely with industry and the wider research community, the positive impacts of our research can been seen on the waters of Plymouth and afar. Together, our researchers and industry partners are collaborating and creating workable solutions to the real-life challenges facing the maritime and marine sectors. This collaborative effort is pushing forwards policy, encouraging the government to implement changes and provide financial support to all UK ports: 

In 2022 our Marine e-Charging Living Lab initiative (MeLL) unveiled the UK’s first e-marine hub of shore-side charging facilities. Research by the University, carried out during the planning stage of the project, showed that the network has the potential to reduce port emissions by 96.60% in the next 30 years. These findings prove that with the infrastructure in place we can help all ports, large and small, meet the UK government’s Clean Maritime Plan for maritime net zero and its drive to decrease the UK's emissions by at least 50% by 2050.

The MeLL initiative brought together researchers at the University of Plymouth, including Dr Richard Pemberton, Dr Lauren Ansell and Dr Stavros Karamperidis, and key industry stakeholders, including Aqua SuperPower, an international industry leader in e-charging network deployment. We are now advancing our partnership with Aqua SuperPower, exploring an innovative virtual bunkering for e-vessels. 

Our research, undertaken by Dr Lee Durndell, will enable aggregated electric boat batteries to provide additional value when not being used for propulsion. The feasibility of the use of bidirectional charging infrastructure in the marine sector is a game-changing technology that could reduce UK marina CO₂ emissions by 4 million tonnes per year. Creating microgrids and energy security at sites where batteries in vessels could be used to support the grid and also immediate infrastructure needs.

We continue to invest in the future and our facilities offer our partners the opportunity to develop real world solutions. Our world-leading COAST Laboratory, national Cyber-SHIP Lab, led by Professor Kevin Jones, and state-of-the art Maritime Simulation Lab, overseen by Dr Adan Lopez-Santander – and home to the Dynamic Positioning Simulator – enable industry partners and our academics to tackle risk, reduce costs and accelerate application of research and industry innovation into sustainable practices in the maritime sector.

The Electric Seaway project launched in April 2023 and aims to to install charging solutions including battery energy storage systems at multiple locations along the South Coast of England. As a result there will be a real shift in access to alternative energy sources for vessels, thanks to research conducted by Dr Richard Pemberton and Dr Simon Ussher. This again is the first of its kind in the UK and sets us ahead of other countries, cementing our maritime heritage for the future of clean technologies. And where better to start to make the shift than Britain's Ocean City?

Looking forwards, the University has once again strengthened its position as a maritime leader with the start of the Zero Emission Network of Workboats (ZENOW) project, which will deploy the world’s largest fleet of electric workboats. This project will see 20 electric vessels deployed across the UK over the next 18 months which will be demonstrated in operational environments for three further years. The boats will be connected virtually, with the project’s technology partners, RAD Propulsion and Aqua SuperPower, delivering fleet-wide monitoring systems to collect operational and performance data. The fleet is an opportunity to make the shift to clean vessels a reality for 15 partners along the south coast of the UK, an opportunity we are thrilled to be a part of.