What is the ultimate shadow yacht? For some, it’s a platform that can hold dozens of toys, scouting anchorages to be ready upon your arrival. For others, it’s a tandem cruiser carrying more family and friends, plus crew. Ben Medland, founder and CEO of Drift Energy, has another idea. “It’s the vessel that provides you your green, sustainable fuel.” In partnership with ShadowCat, Drift Energy intends to build the Most Valuable Yacht (MVY) to generate clean hydrogen fuel for hydrogen-powered megayachts. In this exclusive sit-down with Megayacht News, Drift Energy and ShadowCat provide in-depth details.
“Generate” and “clean” are the key words. Notably, most discussions about so-called green energy only focuses on emissions from engines. However, the manufacturing process for the fuel itself is equally important. Drift Energy already has proof of concept, an 18-foot (5.5-meter) hydrofoil sailboat that converts wind energy into hydrogen. Reportedly the first vessel of its kind built and tested, the sailboat further became the first to generate clean hydrogen in 2022.
Drift Energy initially envisioned creating an AI-powered fleet of energy-creating sailing vessels. These vessels would deliver clean hydrogen to ports, small island nations, and more. While that idea is still viable, an introduction to the yachting industry opened Medland’s eyes to creating dedicated energy vessels for yacht owners. The Drift Energy MVY design is a 190-footer (58-meter) sailing catamaran that creates, stores, and delivers green hydrogen. Delivery takes place either directly to the yacht at sea or by bunker at a port. The design harvests energy via underwater turbines. The electricity generated feeds into an electrolyzer to produce and store the hydrogen. AI comes into play by determining the best cruising routes so that the MVY can take advantage of the optimal wind conditions. Ultimately, according to Drift Energy, the MVY can generate enough green hydrogen to abate upwards of 1,500 tons of total greenhouse gases—not just carbon dioxide.
ShadowCat has partnered with Drift Energy because some of its clients want to pursue cleaner cruising. Additionally, its background in building custom support and shadow yachts like Hodor that crisscross the globe is a good match. Jennifer Smith, ShadowCat’s director of business development, points out yet another reason behind the partnership. “The designs are ready, the builders are ready, the clients are ready, it’s just the infrastructure’s not ready,” she notes. “It’s almost unlocking the potential across all the layers: across the design, across the shipbuilding, across the ownership level.”
Medland agrees. “What it provides is flexibility,” he says. “The infrastructure in the ports is getting there, but not there yet. Even when all of that infrastructure is built into the major ports, you’re still going to have places like the fjords or the Galapagos or far-away places that you’d like to visit as a superyacht owner, but won’t have that infrastructure available. So, Drift being a mobile asset that provides green hydrogen, just put two and two together, and go.”
The MVY designs for ShadowCat clients will start much way any custom superyacht does, with what owners want to do. “We’ll take the owners’ requirements and say, ‘Right, so how much fuel will your vessel require in an annual cycle? What’s the sort of mission profile that you would need?’ And then we can work backwards from there and determine what that looks like in terms of either a Drift service or a captive Drift vessel purely for their own purposes.”
Importantly, “There’s nothing new to invent,” Smith says. “Everything that’s being used has already been invented, is already ready to deploy, and is simple as a unit the size of a pallet.”
Drift Energy drift.energy
ShadowCat theshadowcat.com
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