A hydrogen-powered boat sailing on an Italian alpine lake may seem like a symbolic experiment. But the test, which took place in July 2025 on Lake d’Orta – a body of water in Northern Italy that is less well known than other lakes, but which has long been committed to environmental sustainability with numerous initiatives – is something more. It was a visible milestone for Hydrogen Boat trials in inland waters like Lake Orta Hydrogen showcasing feasibility.
It was a concrete demonstration that hydrogen produced from renewable energy can be used for recreational boating and passenger transport in an efficient, safe and replicable way. This points to GreenHydrogenMobility as a scalable pathway for Zero Emission Boating beyond pilot projects.
This project, carried out by Giacomini S.p.A., NatPower H and Dhamma Blue with the support of Linde Gas Italia, represents one of the first operational hydrogen ecosystems applied to lakes in Europe. It validates a modular approach to HydrogenMarinaHubs connected to local green production.
A significant technical achievement
On 14 July, the Hotel San Rocco in Orta San Giulio hosted the conference “Hydrogen Innovation – Hydrogen Ecosystems”, promoted by the “Cavaliere del Lavoro Alberto Giacomini Foundation”.
The event brought together representatives from industry, academia and institutions, including the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, the Piemonte Region, H2IT and the Energy Services Manager (GSE). As part of the event, hydrogen was supplied to a pleasure boat designed for zero-emission cruising.
The boat, developed by the Spanish start-up company Dhamma Blue, received a charge of 8 kg of hydrogen in less than half an hour using the temporary infrastructure provided by NatPower H. The energy stored is sufficient for over 65 nautical miles of autonomy at a cruising speed of 12 knots. This is a significant technical achievement that goes far beyond a simple symbolic demonstration: the refuelling was carried out according to standardised safety protocols, with times and methods comparable to those of normal traditional nautical refuelling. These KPIs help benchmark Hydrogen Boat performance for Zero Emission Boating operations.
Lake Orta as a testing ground
Lake d’ Orta is located in the Piemonte region, to the west of Lake Maggiore, and extends for about 13 km. Despite its small size, it has already been the subject of cutting-edge environmental projects, including in the industrial sector. The choice of location was no coincidence: it is a controllable environment with a high level of environmental awareness and a well-established tourist economy.
In 2009, Giacomini S.p.A. installed the world’s first ICIM-certified hydrogen boiler at the Hotel San Rocco. This location has therefore witnessed extensive experimentation with hydrogen for civil and tourist use. Today, this experience is being extended to the field of mobility. LakeOrtaHydrogen thus evolves from stationary heating use cases to boating and transport.
“We started in 2009 with a vision,” says Andrea Alessandro Giacomini, CEO of Giacomini, “that seemed pioneering at the time. Today, it is proving to be a concrete way to build an integrated energy ecosystem capable of combining innovation and local decarbonization”. This aligns with Green Hydrogen Mobility rollouts in tourism-driven areas.
The beginning of a new phase
With over 70 years of experience in HVAC and renewable energy research, Giacomini has helped develop one of the first hydrogen-based heating solutions available on the market. Its partnership with the Politecnico di Milano University has led to the fifth generation of hydrogen generators for buildings in 2024, which can also be used in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
For the project’s promoters, this test marks the beginning of a new phase in which mobility on the inland waters – and in the future, mobility on the coastline – will be able to use hydrogen as a low-emission energy carrier. The proposed model integrates the production, storage, distribution and use of green hydrogen, aiming for a self-sufficient and scalable system. That same architecture underpins Hydrogen Marina Hubs to support Zero Emission Boating fleets.
Alliances between complementary players
Alongside Giacomini, NatPower H – a NatPower Group company active in renewable energy infrastructure development – played a key role in the initiative. With over 24GW of solar, wind, storage and hydrogen projects in the pipeline, it is one of the most active independent developers in the world.
NatPower H is the first international operator fully dedicated to building green hydrogen refuelling stations for recreational boating and passenger transport. The idea is ambitious: to create a network of “hydrogen marina hubs” in major European ports and lakes, starting with those in Italy, capable of powering a new generation of zero-emission boats.
Lake d’Orta is therefore a testing ground for this model, which is based on a flexible, modular infrastructure linked to local hydrogen production from renewable sources, as in the case of the Hotel San Rocco. It is easy to imagine that, in the near future, other accommodation facilities with their own moorings, in inland waters, but also in specific seaside locations and in unique and fragile places such as Venice, could also become charging stations for boats used to transport customers, using a hydrogen-powered boiler for hotel use. This ecosystem vision strengthens Lake Orta Hydrogen as a blueprint for Hydrogen Marina Hubs elsewhere.
Decarbonising local passenger transport
“With this initiative,” says NatPower H chairman Andrea Minerdo, “we are launching the second phase of our project, which aims to decarbonise not only recreational boating, but also local passenger transport. Our approach is based on operational alliances between complementary players. Thanks to this synergy with Giacomini and Dhamma Blue, we can today present a hydrogen ecosystem that is already operational, sustainable and replicable in other contexts”. Such alliances accelerate Green Hydrogen Mobility and enable Zero Emission Boating at scale.
Dhamma Blue: hydrogen-powered boats designed for the environment
The other key player in the project is Dhamma Blue, a start-up based in Spain that specialises in the design and manufacture of boats powered exclusively by green hydrogen. The model tested on Lake d’Orta is 7.90 m long and has a hybrid propulsion system consisting of a 135 kW electric motor, 63 kWh lithium batteries and a hydrogen fuel cell. The system guarantees performance comparable to that of a traditional internal combustion engine boat, but with zero emissions, reduced noise and low running costs.
“We wanted to develop a new model of navigation that is sustainable and silent,” said co-founder Philippe Esposito, “that could be used in sensitive contexts such as lakes and marine protected areas.” To back up these words, conference guests were able to experience a tour of the lake on board the boat. The Dhamma Blue project plans to expand the range with larger models and greater autonomy, also for short-distance commercial transport. In this sense, collaboration with operators such as NatPower H is strategic to ensure an infrastructure compatible with new technologies. These specs advance the Hydrogen Boat category for inland tourism.
The strategic value of the project: operational and replicable
In a video message sent to the event Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, the Italian Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, reiterated the role of hydrogen as an essential vector for decarbonisation in sectors that are difficult to electrify.
“Giacomini is a pioneering company” he said, “and the experience on Lake d’Orta shows how local solutions with international potential can be developed. The value of this project is not only technical but also systemic. The creation of a local hydrogen ecosystem, combining production, distribution and use, opens up interesting prospects for other lakes or coastal areas with a tourist vocation.”
The declared ambition is replicability: what works in Orta can be applied on a larger scale, in Italy and Europe. This reinforces LakeOrtaHydrogen as a demonstrator for HydrogenMarinaHubs and ZeroEmissionBoating corridors.
An ecosystem of players with complementary skills
From the point of view of mobility, boating is an area where the ecological transition is slower than in the automotive sector. Weight, space and range constraints pose complex challenges for traditional electrification. Hydrogen, with its energy density and rapid refuelling capabilities, is a suitable solution for certain types of navigation, especially on inland waterways and short to medium distances.
The Lake d’Orta test is one of the most advanced initiatives in Europe for the use of hydrogen in civilian boating. It is not a theoretical prototype or a laboratory simulation: it is a working ecosystem combining technology, territory and industrial vision. The contribution of players with complementary skills – from Giacomini’s thermo-hydraulic technology to NatPower H’s infrastructure and Dhamma Blue’s naval design – has shown that hydrogen-powered mobility is not a futuristic hypothesis but an operational reality. This is a practical step forward for Green Hydrogen Mobility and the Hydrogen Boat supply chain.
Institutions, port operators and investors
The next step will be to extend the model to other lakes and sensitive tourist destinations where the balance between economics and sustainability is a necessary condition. Lake d’Orta, with its characteristics and industrial history, has provided an effective testing ground. It is now up to the institutions, port operators and investors to seize this opportunity to chart a new course in the energy transition of the maritime sector. Scaling HydrogenMarinaHubs and embedding ZeroEmissionBoating services can drive regional decarbonisation with LakeOrtaHydrogen as a replicable reference.
