Kongsberg Maritime has announced the launch of EcoAdvisor, a decision support system for vessel optimisation and reduction of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, developed through a joint research project with vessel operator DOF Subsea (DOF), Sintef, NORCE and Innovation Norway.
EcoAdvisor monitors vessel operations and the ship’s environment, including parameters like power generation, propulsion, environmental forces and control system dynamics, collecting and analysing real-time data from systems such as dynamic positioning (DP), integrated automation systems (IAS), navigation and power management systems (PMS).
This data is passed through a non-linear optimisation solver to find the optimal set up of the power plant for the current environmental conditions, considering the demand from various power consumers. The optimal load reference for engines and state of charge reference for batteries is computed based on their efficiency and power loss.
Based on this analysis, operational advice is provided to the Captain, DP operator and Chief Engineer as to what machinery (engines, batteries and thrusters) can be stopped to run the vessel more efficiently. This advice is dynamic – if a change in the mean weather conditions (wind, wave and current), power plant system or DP system settings is detected, the recommendations will be revised accordingly.
All advice is backed up by a system overview indicating why these changes are desirable, how any steps will alter the balance between efficiency and redundancy margin, and what the real-time effect of the measures are.
“EcoAdvisor demonstrates clearly how a decision support tool relying on the power of digitisation can help vessel operators remain competitive in a growing green market,” said Odd Hagen, VP Offshore Sales, Kongsberg Maritime.
“Several factors contribute to inefficiencies in maritime operations, such as multiple engines running at low utilisation, load variations, and large power fluctuations due to mission equipment and thrusters. Vessel owners have found it challenging to achieve sustainable operations due to conservative requirements from charters and a lack of a holistic overview of their operations.”
“EcoAdvisor creates an intelligent and comprehensive overview of all these factors, delivering advice that enables efficient, cost-effective and sustainable solutions to be made without compromising vessel redundancy margin. Further, the history log and reporting functions in EcoAdvisor can be used to determine the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI), the Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator (EEOI) and Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) to ensure compliance with the IMO.”
The system includes a Voyage Energy Calculator (VEC) feature to help the operator to determine the total energy consumption for varying speed profiles including added resistance due to wind, wave and current for selected routes based on the weather forecast. This allows operators to decide the optimal speed with minimum fuel energy consumption for a specific trip, according to their departure or arrival time requirements.
DOF currently has pilot installations of EcoAdvisor running on two vessels, Skandi Vega and Skandi Africa, using the system to optimise generators, thrusters, and the setup of the power plant.
“We see there is potential for both savings and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and if the result from the pilot vessels is as expected, we anticipate that this will be installed on a larger part of our fleet,” said Arnstein Kløvrud, SVP Technology and Integrated Solutions at DOF.
