Interview: Babcock's Dr Jon Hall on innovations in marine propulsion

Babcock is involved in a number of programmes that are supporting wider sustainability frameworks, such as the Government’s Road to Zero and the Clean Maritime Call.  Real innovation often happens when we work collaboratively and that’s what we are doing across our business.

In May we were announced as one of 10 companies to win funding as part of the Clean Maritime Call, a new initiative set up by the Maritime Research and Innovation UK (MarRI-UK) body. All these projects will play an important role in supporting the British maritime sector’s vision of zero-emission shipping and the UK Government’s Maritime 2050 strategy. Our project is to develop a test platform and an advanced power-energy management solution for zero emission marine propulsion systems – and we’re just about to start work on it!

As a technology-led business we deliver critical, complex engineering services across defence, emergency services and civil nuclear markets in the UK and increasingly internationally.  Our latest project, the FC-BATShip (Fuel Cell Battery powered Ship) is in many ways breaking the boundaries. We are doing this in collaboration with Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and our suppliers Fuel Cell Systems and Plug Power.