UC San Diego receives state funding for new research vessel
Conceptual design of the new vessel (Source: UC San Diego)
The University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) has been awarded US$35 million in state finance to design and build a new coastal research vessel with a first-of-its-kind hydrogen-hybrid propulsion system.
The vessel will be designed to operate 75% of its missions entirely using hydrogen. For longer missions, extra power will be provided by clean-running modern diesel generators. Development of the hybrid-hydrogen design and subsequent zero-emission vessels is essential to the University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative, the goal to be carbon neutral by 2025.
The newbuilding, which will be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, will serve as a platform for education and research dedicated to understanding the California coast and climate change impacts to the coastal ecosystem. The proposed vessel of about 38m length will take three years to be designed, built and commissioned and will replace the research vessel Robert Gordon Sproul which has been in service for nearly 40 years.
