The partners behind a project to design and build a prototype electric passenger ferry have urged caution after the project was awarded more than £3m by the government.

The £4.2million MorVoRen (Cornish for Mermaid) Project, an expert partnership from industry and academia, was announced as one of the successful Round 3 projects of The Department for Transport's Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition last week.

It is led by green engineering design team Marine Zero with FalRiver Ferries, Falmouth Harbour, Pelagic Design, Solis Marine Engineering and the University of Plymouth.

The successful bid of £3,046,686 could unlock funding for more than 70% of the scheme – with the partnership needing to find the remaining 30%.

The partnership aims to operate a fully electric demonstrator ferry and powered buoy for the busy Falmouth to St Mawes route in the Fal Estuary which sees more than a million passengers a year on the water.

Marine Zero’s Tim Munn said while it was a “fantastic opportunity” there were still many hoops to go through before it went ahead.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for Falmouth and local businesses to lead the way in the decarbonisation of marine transport in the UK and globally,” he said.

“There are, however, many hoops still to pass through before MorVoRen can get the go-ahead - with the project currently going through Innovate UK due diligence checks, alongside an internal analysis of costs currently underway by the project partners.”

His sentiment was echoed by Toby Floyer, managing director of FalRiver which operates the ferry. 

“Reducing our carbon footprint is something we have been working on incredibly hard on for a long time for the people of Falmouth and St Mawes, and we are really excited about making further progress, but it hasn’t been signed off yet," he said.

The offer has been made to a partnership of engineering companies, Falmouth Harbour as well as support from St Mawes Pier and Harbour Company.

Mr Floyer said another factor that had to be looked into was the fact the Prince of Wales Pier was still crumbling.

"Truro and Penryn Harbour who run the Pier are doing everything they can to keep it open, but what's really needed is a long term investment plan from Cornwall Council - otherwise the town could effectively be cut off from the water," he said.

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If the projects proceeds, a challenging two-year time-frame would see the fully electric Domestic Passenger Vessel (DPV) and powered mooring buoy (PMB) designed, built, certified and operating between Falmouth and St Mawes.

The demonstrator fully electric ferry would be operated by Fal River while the unique powered mooring buoy would be operated by Falmouth Harbour with potential for other electric vessels to “plug in” and charge. Access to power for vessels is challenging in many harbours including Falmouth - and the PMB solution working with the local energy supplier would make access possible for many.