Ricardo, a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company, announced a significant milestone in clean energy innovation with its new high-powered, multi-stack H₂ fuel cell module technology successfully reaching 393 kW of net electrical power, achieved within three months development from initial start-up.

This achievement was made possible due to Ricardo’s virtual engineering toolchain, which reduces physical prototyping costs and risks, accelerates development timelines, and provides a deeper understanding of system behaviors under diverse conditions.

Initially developed as part of the Sustainable Hydrogen Powered Shipping (sHYpS) Horizon Europe project for the maritime sector, Ricardo’s multi-stack H₂ fuel cell module is designed to deliver high energy output with zero emissions. Its modular architecture integrates multiple fuel cell stacks to provide unmatched power density, and scalability while meeting the evolving energy demands of diverse applications, such as maritime, stationary power generation, rail and off-highway.

"This is a pivotal moment for H₂ technology," said Andy Ennever, Ricardo Global Head of Fuel Cells. "By reaching this milestone and completing a full transient ship operation test cycle, our multi-stack H₂ fuel cell technology demonstrates H₂'s potential as a clean energy source. It also showcases Ricardo’s expertise in designing and engineering the fuel cell module entirely in-house within the timeframe set out by Horizon Europe and achieving sustained maximum power after just three months of development after the initial switch-on.”

To support the adoption of H₂ technology, Ricardo has also developed a containerized solution, able to combine multiple fuel cell modules, enabling power output to be scaled up to 3 MW per container, with the DC-DC power conversion on board, all without sacrificing efficiency or durability. When scaled up to incorporate multiple fuel cell modules housed within two bespoke containers, a total net electrical plant output of 6 MW can be delivered. This is sufficient to power a 50,000 t 1,000 passenger cruise ship through important zero-emission mission cycles.