Full electrification of deepsea vessels may be some time off yet, but the outlook isn’t as grim as some might suggest.
Marine technology research consultancy Thetius launched its Maritime Alternative Fuels Barometer in January concluding that while batteries and shore power can support decarbonisation, deepsea shipping electrification remains unrealistic.
The Barometer measured the gaps between the shipping industry’s perception of alternative marine fuels and the reality in terms of availability, supply, technological readiness and impact on emissions. Commissioned by SEA-LNG, it was based on an analysis of market announcements, data on alternative fuels from DNV’s Alternative Fuels Insight platform, and 25 interviews with a range of maritime stakeholders.
A majority of stakeholders perceived batteries as a short-term option and only applicable for shortsea shipping. One interviewee stated: “The technology won’t advance enough for deepsea shipping. Even electric vehicles aren’t reliable.”
Despite this, full electrification is gaining interest. CIMAC, in cooperation with the Maritime Battery Forum (MBF), is running a survey on battery use in deepsea shipping. The goal of the survey is to find out why, for what type of vessels and for what type of applications shipowners are considering batteries and if they think that full electrification is going to be an option for them in the future.
Early starters
Electric ambitions are progressing, with ferries leading the way. The battery capacity for each of Norled’s three new ferries will be approximately 8MWh, making them the ferries with the largest battery capacity in Norway. Meanwhile, Incat Tasmania has designed the largest lightweight battery electric ship (130m in length) so far constructed in the world for delivery to its South American customer, Buquebus. The 100% battery electric ropax will have over 40MWh of battery storage, four times larger than any battery installation that has been installed anywhere in the world for the marine transport environment, says Incat.
Two electric container ships are being built by CHI (Yangzhou) for COSCO Shipping Development. The world’s first 700 TEU electric container ships will have a battery capacity of over 50MWh and will sail the Yangtze River from Jiangsu to Shanghai. It is expected that each ship will reduce CO2 emissions by the equivalent to 2,035 family cars a year or 160,000 trees.
Knowledge sharing
Shaun White, the Managing Director of Foreship (UK), has been a strong supporter of maritime battery systems for a long time. He emphasises the important role advancing safety measures and establishing standards can play in addressing misconceptions that have hindered the recognised benefits of installing shipboard energy storage solutions.
“The maritime battery is often misunderstood, with many believing that a sizable battery is necessary for environmental and operational advantages, leading to cost, space, and safety concerns. Consequently, proposals for projects face difficulties in obtaining necessary approvals and moving forward with implementation.”
The maritime battery retrofit market is caught in an ongoing cycle where prices do not decrease because of limited adoption, and limited adoption persists due to high prices. Foreship collaborateswith owners on battery projects, conducting everything from feasibility studies, and detailed design to installation supervision. Doing so has involved working ahead of regulations to make battery systems safer, more dependable, and better designed, says White.
Source: CHI
The first two 700 teu pure-electric container ships are on order for COSCO Shipping Development at CHI
Constant technological development makes it critical that the maritime industry adopts safe and uniform standards, based on well-understood, industry-driven guidelines,” says White. “Safety and standardisation will be key for confidence in and the wider uptake of shipboard battery technology.”
In its first EMSA Guidance on the Safety of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) on board ships, published last year, Europe’s maritime safety organisation notes: “There is no regulatory instrument at international level on the safety aspects of using batteries in ships. This important scope has been left to and evolved through the requirements of class, industry standards and codes with limited requirements and experience from…flag states.”
Foreship was among the stakeholders consulted on the functional requirements for risk mitigation included in the new EMSA Guidance. The resulting document goes beyond batteries and their integration, to include the design, installation, and operation of systems, says White. “This Guidance offers a significant step forward for assurance of the monitoring, management and protection of battery safety which will encourage a wider pool of owners to consider the advantages inherent in battery systems.” Recommendations cover training and operational procedures, ventilation, fire safety, systems testing and maintenance, and relevant shipboard spaces.
Foreship has also contributed to emerging maritime guidance and industry best practices for batteries, and to developing recommended standards so that battery systems are harmonised. It was one of the 21-strong group of expert organisations consulted to develop the MBF’s first Firefighting Guideline for Maritime Battery Systems Version, published in October 2023, detailing techniques, and strategies to deal with battery systems fires on board hybrid and electric ships. The company has also contributed to MBF’s Guideline to Standardisation of Containerized Maritime Battery Systems, whose publication is expected to accelerate the adoption of both fixed and swappable shipboard battery.
An optimally sized battery can have widespread positive impacts – on engine efficiency, emissions reduction and safety, in its use for peak shaving, load ramping or as spinning reserve. Batteries are a proven technology which contributes to achieving reduced emissions during ship operations while enhancing the efficiency of many alternative ship fuels and sources of power it works with, White points out.
Technology developments
Tomas Tengner, Global Product Manager, Energy Storage, ABB Marine & Ports, is working on projects where relatively small batteries are used to hybridise shaft generator systems on deepsea cargo vessels. “We notice a trend of increased battery capacity that may enable zero emission port calls and cold ironing in ports without shore connection. We are continuously developing our onboard power and control systems to enable efficient and safe integration and usage of ever-increasing battery sizes.”
Increased cost for emissions in combination with more and more stringent regulations is driving an increased demand for low and zero-emission solutions, and batteries will be deployed wherever possible, he says, as they offer the highest system level energy efficiency.
Battery technology is developing rapidly. “The strongest trend at the moment is the uptake of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in the stationary energy storage system market,” says Tengner. “Big
investments into this technology, primarily in China, have brought the cost down significantly, and LFP cells are currently offered for below 60 /kWh. This trend starts to merge into the marine energy storage system space, with several marine vendors launching products based on standard grid-type LFP cells.
“Looking a bit into the future, Na-ion batteries are being developed with close to the same energy density as LFP. These batteries utilise globally abundant raw materials and have the potential to further drive the cost down, enabling even larger vessels to go fully electric.
“For vessels that are weight sensitive, such as fast ferries, the solid-state batteries that are being developed around the globe by companies such as Toyota, Prologium, Solid Power and CATL to name a few, could enable full electrification of longer routes. However, this technology is still some years away, and it remains to be seen when and how it will be deployed for marine applications.”
For deepsea vessels, high capital cost and low battery energy density is still preventive for full electrification. “Instead, biofuels and e-fuels will be used. Higher fuel costs will put more focus on energy efficiency, which can be realized by electric propulsion such as ABB’s Azipod propulsion units®, and hybrid power plants,” says Tengner.
Source: GustoMSC
After conducting an in-depth study on the potential for a fully-electric large jack-up WTIV, GustoMSC concluded implementation remains impractical until battery suppliers improve the power density of battery cells.
“With energy consumption getting more expensive – either in the form of high CAPEX for batteries, or in the form of more expensive bio- or e-fuels, propulsion efficiency becomes increasingly important. ABB’s Azipod® propulsion systems and even more so our innovative ABB Dynafin™ concept that was launched last year, can significantly reduce propulsion power requirements and save valuable MWh. When considering electrification of a new vessel, the addition of energy storage to a propulsion system can often make the difference between a dead or flying business case.”
Offshore potential
Bibby Marine recently appointed Longitude Engineering for the design of a zero-emission electric service operation vessel (eSOV). The eSOV is based on Longitude Engineering’s OSD-IMT9605 design which Longitude Engineering is now developing to Approval in Principle stage. Longitude Engineering will apply a multi-disciplined engineering and marine consultancy team to work on this project, including Bibby Marine, Port of Aberdeen, ORE Catapult, Kongsberg, DNV, Shell and Liverpool John Moores University.
The vessel will be powered by a hybrid 20MWh battery system and dual-fuel methanol generators for back-up and offshore charging capability. The vessel will provide ultra-low emission support for offshore construction, operations and maintenance activities in the offshore renewables sector in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
Damen Shipyards Group has also designed a fully electric SOV with offshore charging capabilities. The SOV 7017 E features a 15MWh LFP battery, sufficient to power the vessel during a full day of operations. Damen’s business case analysis indicates a healthy return on investment, ranging between five and 15 years, depending on the scenario.
Source: Bibby Marine
Bibby Marine has designed an eSOV
Damen has partnered with UK-based MJR Power & Automation, a company that has developed a 4MW charger connector, sufficient for a 70-metre vessel. The company is also working on a scaled up 8MW version that will enable charging of vessels up to 90 metres in length. Charging is carried out while the vessel is in a low power DP mode, which requires less energy than the hotel load. A full charge typically requires energy produced in just a few hours by a single turbine.
For GustoMSC’s offshore construction vessel designs, offshore charging is less practical as they are installing turbines, but fast charging in port is a potential option. “Our vessels are designed to be working 24/7. Therefore, minimising any non-productive time is crucial,” says David Inman, Sales Manager at NOV-subsidiary GustoMSC.
Source: Foreship
Shaun White, the Managing Director of Foreship (UK)
Inman sees full electrification as an evolution. “You start with the easier ones to do. So, in our world, that means the small crew transfer vessels that come into port every three or four hours and have lower energy usage than the construction vessels.”
However, even for the larger vessels such as wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs), return to port can potentially occur often enough to make battery charging as part of full electric power systems feasible in the foreseeable future. Even batteries installed as part of a hybrid diesel-electric system make a lot of sense, says Erwin van den Berg, Consultant / Expert Naval Architect at GustoMSC, due to the variation in load demand during the operations undertaken by these vessels, such as dynamic positioning, jacking and crane operations. In these scenarios, batteries can provide peak shaving or spinning reserve, reliable redundancy and an attractive alternative to a genset in a diesel-electric setup.
Unlike deepsea cargo vessels, these offshore vessels are fewer in number, are more diverse and have a variety of offshore activities, making it harder to establish energy efficiency and carbon intensity index regulations that might push development faster. Battery adoption may come in association with fuel cell uptake. Fuel cells have relatively slow ramp up and ramp down performance, says van den Berg, making energy storage a necessity.
In limiting the impact on the environment of the vessels, a holistic view on vessel design is of key importance, and to do so, the company has set up the GustoMSC Energy Efficiency and emissions Quest (GEEQ) program. “The selection of fuel type, power supply systems including electrical energy recovery and storage should match the mission equipment and the type and arrangement of the vessel. And the vessel design should be matched with the demands of the foreseen operational profile and operation areas,” says van den Berg.
As part of GEEQ, GustoMSC has conducted an in-depth study on the potential for a fully-electric large jack-up WTIV but found that, with the battery systems currently on the market, the impact on the maximum elevated weight and on the deck area is such that carrying capacity and range is too much impaired for practical implementation. “We do, however, see that battery storage capacity per unit weight is expected to increase fast in the coming years. A few years from now, a battery powered WTIV might become feasible,” says van den Berg.
