Making waves

Yachts lie at anchor, bobbing gently on the sparkling Mediterranean while seagulls glide through the cloudless sky. But wait! A strange boat is approaching…

Although it slices easily through the waves, there is something unusual here – it has no sail, no oars, not even a petrol motor. This is a boat from the future. This is SOGREEN.

When Matthieu De Gennaro, project manager in the research and innovation (R&I) unit of Capgemini Engineering, was given the chance to enter the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge, he leapt at the opportunity.

Sailing into history

“This event has been held by the Monaco Yacht Club since 2014 to promote innovation in clean energy, in particular hydrogen,” explains Matthieu. “For us, it was the perfect way to demonstrate our capabilities as a company, and to develop a hydrogen propulsion system for our energy and naval business units.”

Participating teams are given a small catamaran boat as a base, but from there, the rest is up to them. “Each team must design a propulsion and control system that runs on clean energy, so that the boat can be piloted through a series of competitive events, including a sprint, slalom and marathon,” says Matthieu.

Matthieu and his team designed a hybrid electric-hydrogen drivetrain to power the vessel, named SOGREEN. In doing so they drew on talent from different divisions: energy, aeronautics, digital, and automotive. “A project like this calls for a multidisciplinary approach,” he says.

“The frame of the boat requires mechanical expertise, whereas the power, control, and fuel cell management involve complex electrical understanding. We also employed advanced digital skills to develop the human machine interface (HMI) and a digital twin, which is a real-time digital counterpart of the boat.”

Green innovation

According to Matthieu, a digital twin helps an operator spot problems before they occur, and, with the use of artificial intelligence, allows the energy performance of the power system to be optimized, which is crucial from a sustainability point of view.

Rapid design and delivery

“We only had six months to design and develop the system,” explains Matthieu. “Issues around the pandemic extended the supply times even more, and we had to rely on teleworking during the testing phase.”

Having said that, the Capgemini boat placed third in its category out of eight competitors. “I’m extremely proud of our performance considering it was the first time we’d participated. Also, we were one of only two teams to finish the 30km marathon event, which says a lot about the quality of our design.”

A winning team

“We knew this would be an attractive challenge for younger people,” says Matthieu. “So we brought four trainees on board to work with us on the project, two of whom have now been hired by us. We also drew on the skills of 30 people from the R&I unit and two electrical engineering specialists.”

Matthieu says that everyone involved gained valuable experience from the event. “We were driven to create the best possible system, which is the whole point of the competition. It gave the trainees a sense of what can be achieved working with Capgemini in the interests of planet Earth.”

Alternative fuel sources

Matthieu sees the project as a contributor to the global push towards sustainability. “The latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) made it clear that we have to take urgent action today. An essential aspect of this is to develop alternative sources of energy and hydrogen. This has enormous promise in terms of helping industrial economies to decarbonize their transport systems.”

Far from being a curiosity, SOGREEN and the technology behind it has a bright future. “The system could be used in ferries and small boats and, thanks to the flexibility, bikes and some road vehicles too. It’s a platform that will allow us to experiment with a host of new technologies and tools developed within the R&I unit.”

Personal responsibility

Matthieu believes we all have a role to play in reducing the impact of climate change through the personal choices we make – like reducing our waste at home and recycling. "Capgemini is also helping to reduce climate emissions from transport thanks by embracing teleworking." And with projects such as SOGREEN, Matthieu and his team have shown we can definitely use technology to create a cleaner, greener world.

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Sarah Gonçalves wasn’t always a data engineer. She began her career as an archaeologist, unearthing the secrets of the past in sites across France before retraining as a data engineer. She brings the same curiosity to her new vocation at Capgemini, using artificial intelligence (AI) to uncover what lies beneath the surface.