Norway Awards $130 Million in Grants for Green Ship Orders

Norway's government has announced a new round of funding to support newbuild orders for green ships. Last week, the Norwegian state-backed energy innovation fund Enova awarded over $130 million to seven local maritime companies. The firms are in the process of placing orders for ten new emission-free ships.

Of the ten vessels, six will run on batteries, two on hydrogen and two on ammonia. This will add to 22 other green ships already under construction, which are planned for use in Norwegian waters and largely financed by Enova.

Specifically, projects focusing on electric ships have received a larger share of support. This is evident in the battery-electric containership projects by Eitzen Group, which have received Enova grants for two years in a row. The grants were issued to Eitzen Group’s unit for the electrification of shipping, Zen.

In this year, Enova awarded Zen $20 million for two new battery-electric containerships. This adds to a similar amount issued last year for two more sister vessels, although the grant was formally awarded to Avanti, a subsidiary of the Eitzen Group. Recently, Zen said it had placed the order for the initial two electric container vessels, which will be built in China by the Zhejiang Dongpeng Shipbuilding. With battery packs of 100MWh, the vessels will be among the largest electric boxships to enter into commercial use from 2029.

Nordic Sea Concept is another company that Enova awarded $8.6 million for development of an all-electric cruise ship. The vessel will operate within Norwegian fjords and will be equipped with a large battery pack of 20 MWh. The wellboat shipping specialist Seistar got $13.6 million for both an all-electric process vessel and a charging facility. This will make it possible for Seistar to transport and process fish emission-free between fish farms and slaughter houses.

In the hydrogen and ammonia fuels segment, Enova invested around $80 million to advance the value chains for the two fuels. LH2 Shipping will receive $35 million to support its order for two bulk carriers, which will use liquid hydrogen. Bergen Tankers will get $44 million ammonia-powered tankers, which the Norwegian energy giant Equinor has committed to charter.

Enova has calculated that the projects will result in an annual greenhouse gas reduction of over 46,000 tons of CO2. “The projects pave way for a major restructuring of the maritime sector, which can significantly reduce emissions on a lasting basis,” said Acting CEO of Enova, Rune Holmen.

Norway is a leader in clean shipping, particularly in battery-electric propulsion. DNV says that Norway has 3,785 ships under its register, of which 112 are emission-free, corresponding to three percent of the fleet.