Fuelling the future Magne Roe brings you up to speed on the technologies that increasingly will be propelling shipping John Roger Nesje: This is not just evolution, it is a revolution (Photograph: Morten Wanvik) Shipping is often accused of being slow to adopt new technologies. But that doesn t apply to electric and hybrid propulsion. The sector is making significant strides, with a growing number of systems and suppliers and rapidly improving performance. A maritime world expo on electric and hybrid solutions in June attracted 3,000 attendees and 150 exhibitors to Amsterdam, underlining the global interest in and speed of technical development. The industry has grown from virtually zero to become a major factor for the maritime industry over just a few years, says John Roger Nesje of Rolls-Royce Power Electric Systems in Bergen, Norway. Hybrid solutions featuring storage of electricity on board are based on several technical systems involving different energy sources. Operational profile is the key factor when deciding on which combination of technologies to use for a new ship, in order to achieve improved performance and fuel economy, Nesje says. Fuel options include diesel, LNG, allelectric and solar. Engine configuration, transmission line, propeller design, engine combinations and solutions for variable engine speed are also important. Electric propulsion can be used to shave off-peak engine performance; or a ship can run partly electric for sections of the voyage; or it can run on electricity until its batteries are empty, then switch to normal fuel. Nesje says all modes of operation must be considered before deciding on a propulsion
solution: at port, on manoeuvre, on standby, dynamic positioning, slow/fast transit and length of journey. But then there may be a limit to how purpose-built you can make this, he adds, as the ship will only be suitable for one trade, meaning secondhand value may not be up to expectations. Obvious benefits include reduced consumption of fossil fuels, lower emissions, and less wear and tear, noise and vibration. Safety is also improved through redundancy. Combining batteries and electrical power with, for instance, diesel engines can smooth the running of generators to an even load; peak shaving reduces the need for starting a standby engine; and the running engines operate at optimum loads. Confirming that batteries and associated technologies are of interest to traditional suppliers of energy, oil major Shell has created a multi-million-dollar fund for future energy solutions, as well as buying into battery producers. Other oil companies are getting in on the act: Total has taken over battery maker Saft, and Statoil has bought into Corvus Energy. Meanwhile, Aquion has secured $36.8m of funding for its saltwater batteries. At Rolls-Royce we have a strong belief in the future of batteries and electricity, Nesje says. We can basically supply the ship design, the propulsion solutions, the electrical systems required as our key competence areas. We have the experience in all aspects of ship design and construction, meaning that we are very well Child s play: Karoline, 10, tries her hand at the controls of a training simulator for a Rolls-Royce bridge, the latest generation of which will be used on the world s most complex hybrid ship, the polar research vessel Sir David Attenborough (Photograph: Magne Roe)
The switched-on alternative Stable and dependable The Ampere is a standard bearer for alternative power. Norled s all-electric-battery 120-car, 350-passenger ferry, completed in 24, has operated on a busy connection between Bergen and Trondheim in Norway for a year and a half, making 32 trips a day. After a few technical and operational issues in first three months, chief technology officer Sigvald Breivik says: We have had stable operations, with availability of the ferry according to our schedules. No interruptions and the track record of availability for the ship is better than for that of a diesel-fuelled ferry. The Ampere uses about 20% of the stored electricity of its batteries on one 20-minute trip, and it is able to recharge fully during its 10 minutes in port. One of the key success factors has been the redundant charging system in port. The technical solution selected for the Ampere is to charge via a plug that is lowered into a socket on board the ship within 30 seconds of berthing, Breivik explains. There is also a charging system that works much like that on an electric railway locomotive, where a pantograph on the vessel connects to an overhead electric cable when it is in port. We have also changed our operational culture dramatically compared to a diesel ferry, he adds. On [diesel] ships the engine or engines are always running, and the ships generate their own electricity, meaning that lights and systems are always on. There is no need to turn off anything. The story with Ampere is very different. Here we have to save energy as much as we can all the time, so we switch systems and lights off as much as we can in port. To our crew this is a huge difference from the fossil-fuelled ships. If we were to make any changes to this 100% electric ferry concept for future operations, it would probably be to add a diesel engine for operational redundancy. The vessel has a small diesel generator for use when, for instance, it needs to go to a yard for inspection or maintenance, and would not have enough electric charge for the journey. As the Ampere is set up today, it can be used at only one location. It has been designed with little flexibility for us as operator, Breivik says. But he adds: The all-aluminium vessel has revolutionised the ferry industry and the experience has been so good that we have no problems at all in recommending this solution. In fact, Norled has begun a programme to retrofit other ships in its fleet. We have rebuilt one into a hybrid, where we now run the ferry first as a 100% electric ferry until the batteries are depleted, then change to diesel mode a development he describes as very efficient. The company is also looking at adding the hybrid solution to LNG ferries, because their engines operate inefficiently at small loads, so battery operation in and out of ports is a good solution. Magne Roe The battery-powered ferry Ampere has brought a dramatic change in Norled s operational culture (Photograph: Norled) The Sir David Attenborough research vessel will be able to break through ice a metre thick at a speed of three knots (Photograph: Rolls-Royce) positioned to win challenging contracts from a technological point of view. Scandinavia is leading the way. Ferry operator Scandlines has fitted additional ferries with batteries, while Aero ferries in Denmark has become fully batterypowered. Norway s parliament, meanwhile, has agreed that all ferries should run on zero-emissions technology. This is not just evolution, it is a revolution, Nesje says. The technology is being applied beyond small or coastal ferries. A large polar code-four ice-class vessel is being built at Cammell Laird s shipyard in Birkenhead on Merseyside, northwest England. The 128-metre royal research ship Sir David Attenborough will be delivered in 29. A Rolls-Royce design was selected by Cammell Laird, including electrical systems with 5MW peak effect battery capacity, five times that of Norled s allelectric-battery car ferry the Ampere. The Sir David Attenborough will be able to break through metre-thick ice at a speed of three knots. It will have an endurance of up to 60 days in polar regions, with a range of up to 18,000 nautical miles at a transit speed of 13 knots and space for up to 90 people plus cargo. The diesel-electric propulsion system will be powered by Bergen B33:45 engines (two of nine cylinders and two of six cylinders) and equipped with two RollsRoyce 4.5-metre diameter controllable pitch propellers, plus a Promas integrated propeller/rudder system. Rolls-Royce will also deliver the automation and control systems, including dynamic positioning and an innovative unified bridge that reduces the risks of human mistakes.
04 03 The hull design, engines and propellers will allow the ship to generate very low levels of underwater-radiated noise, and this can be further reduced by all-electric propulsion over shorter distances to avoid the disturbance of survey equipment. Deck handling systems will support a wide range of tasks, including towing scientific equipment for subsea acoustic survey kit using up to 12,000 metres of wire, and deploying equipment over the side or through a moon pool to collect ID: 155427 size: 20 by 793.7 VIMC seawater and seabed samples at depths of 9,000 metres. The ship will be able to transport fuels and 30 to 40 containers of cargo, and it has a helideck that can take two helicopters. TW+ visited Rolls-Royce Maritime in Alesund, Norway, to talk to Einar Vegsund, manager of ship design and systems, about the Sir David Attenborough. In designing this innovative vessel we had to find the right balance between proven technologies and innovative and 03 Einar Vegsund says it has been important to strike a balance between proven technologies and innovation (Photograph: Magne Roe) 04 Sigvald Breivik says Norled s battery-powered ferry has a better availability record than its diesel-fuelled vessels (Photograph: Norled)
Transmission Fully electric Hybrid (electric & mechanical) Mechanical Propulsor Energy source Engine LNG or diesel fixed speed Engine LNG or diesel variable speed Genset LNG or diesel fixed speed Genset LNG or diesel variable speed Stand-by DP Pulling (tug/ahts/fishing) Medium transit Battery-powered Short transit, high speed Stand-by/manoeuvre Manoeuvre/short transit Long transit novel solutions, as the ship will operate in harsh environments far from shore and repair facilities, says Vegsund. It is also a research facility for professors and support staff, and this means that accommodation must be up to standard and that most of the research facilities must be placed as close to mid-ship as possible. Ship movement is less on deck three the researchers deck and the wide vessel is a stable research platform. Noise and vibrations have to be as low as possible, so two electrical engines in tandem at each propellor shaft are coupled directly on the axle by a flexible joint. The ABB will retrofit HH Ferries Tycho Brahe and Aurora to operate solely on battery power on the service between Helsingor in Denmark and Helsingborg in Sweden, which carries 7.4 million passengers and 1.9 million vehicles a year. As the ferry docks, at the last 40cm of the approach ABB s industrial robot IRB 7600 will reach out and pull the shore cable from the ship, then disconnect on departure. It is the first time an industrial robot has been used for this purpose. ship can operate on only one engine in dynamic positioning mode and batteries can be engaged for redundancy with one generator, resulting in vastly reduced fuel consumption. It is an all-electric ship in most ways, with the capacity of powering all the high-demand electrical motors also needed for cranes and equipment, says Vegsund. The vessel is an ice-breaker because being self-supported in the Antarctic is a key demand. The design ensures that ice goes down and out of the sides of the ship. But the hull will also need to be a silent hull, and going through waves creates noise as air is caught under the hull. This ship is designed to ensure that very little air is trapped by the hull, thus interfering less with the scientific equipment. All in all [it is] a huge challenge to design on the border of what is actually possible with a view to redundancy and coming proven technologies with the latest of the latest in ship design and equipment. This is a ship for the future, concludes Vegsund. Magne A Roe was previously a vicepresident at DNV GL in maritime market communication and has published DNV GL updates for most shipping segments Based on parameters such as fuel consumption, performance, emissions, environment, noise, vibrations, maintenance, capex and opex, the table shows examples of how to work out the solutions that could be optimum in each operation or mode ABB s robot-operated recharging system (Photograph: ABB)