Not only is battery use increasing within the ferry sector, but their use in cruise and high-speed sectors will accelerate due to new legislation and products
AIDA Cruises is to carry out a pilot operation of battery systems on board one of its cruise ships – and will use the biggest battery ever installed in a ship.
AIDAperla will use a Corvus Energy battery. Corvus chief commercial officer Halvard Hauso says “This will be the world’s biggest battery installation on board a ship to date. The project shows it is possible to retrofit even quite large energy storage solutions on board cruise and passenger ships. It is however challenging to find enough available space as the volume of the batteries is quite substantial. For a newbuilding this is much easier as you can plan it from the design phase.”
The battery system will consist of more than 1,800 modules. AIDA is removing an unused water tank and installing the battery system within this space.
Mr Hauso says “It will be used for zero-emissions operations sailing in and out of port and for port stays in addition to peak shaving when sailing in open waters. This is the first regular cruise ship to undergo a battery retrofit, although we do have expedition cruise ships in operation.”
A 10-MWh battery is being deployed. Mr Hauso says Carnival Corp hopes to gain experience from this retrofit for future installations.
He points out another huge benefit of having batteries on board which is spinning reserve. If the engine fails, the batteries can deliver immediate power to the ship and avoid a black-out situation. This means the operator can control the situation while the engines are being fixed.
He adds that the black-out experienced by Viking Sky last year probably would have been avoided if the ship had a 10-MWh battery deployed.
Looking ahead to future developments, he said “New batteries with lower weight and lower volumes will soon be available. For newbuilds where you can plan for batteries from design phase, we will see batteries with 50-60 even up to 100 MWh in one cruise vessel. For retrofits this will not be possible as it is challenging to find enough space.”
New environmental legislation will also provide a push for using batteries within the cruise industry. In 2026, Norway will impose new regulations forbidding ships to enter some fjords using fuel. “Batteries can be fitted to allow the ships to sail in these areas. While a retrofit would be difficult, batteries can be added to newbuild vessels.
We have developed a new battery for cruise vessel operations, the Corvus Blue Whale, which will be ready for delivery in 2021,” says Mr Hauso.
The Corvus Orca Energy battery, which is to be fitted to AIDAperla, takes double the amount of space compared to the Corvus Blue Whale and has 30% more weight for the same amount of energy.
Moving on to the ferry market, Mr Hauso explains batteries are ideal for all vessels on fixed routes, which is the case for most ferries. “Soon, no ferries will be built without energy storage on board as batteries make the vessel easier to operate, safer to navigate and more efficient than a vessel without a battery pack on board. Especially in Norway, there are a tremendous number of car ferries that are all-electric or hybrid.
Corvus has contracts with the four largest ferry operators in Norway: Fjord1, Norled, Boreal and Torghatten Nord.
Corvus also has a large base of larger ferries, such as ropax, where batteries are used to help the engine run on optimal load during sailing or for zero-emissions operations for short periods.
The ferries with the largest batteries fitted by Corvus are Grimaldi’s Cruise Roma and Cruise Barcelona. These 5.5-MW batteries were installed at Fincantieri shipyard last year as part of a lengthening process and retrofit.
Mr Hauso also forecast that batteries are coming to the high-speed ferry and tourist vessel market. Corvus has two batteries specifically targeting these segments: Corvus Dolphin Power and Corvus Dolphin Energy.
He says “The focus for our dolphin batteries is weight – they are specifically made for weight-sensitive vessels. These high-speed vessels are the worst polluters comparing the number of passengers to the fuel needed. Going forward, we will see a push towards electrification in all segments. We have learnt there is no one-size-fits-all. Different applications need different batteries. We have more than 40 engineers in our R&D department. We now have seven different types of batteries and all serve an operational purpose.”
Speaking of potential battery-powered high-speed ferries, Mr Hauso says “We have a lot of government tenders coming out in Norway soon which we are working on. They are looking at batteries and hydrogen. Hydrogen power needs batteries to operate so we do not see hydrogen as a competitor to batteries, we see it as something that can work together.”
Batteries ‘go-to’ tech for short ferry travel
Elsewhere, Leclanché believes batteries will be the go-to technology for ferries with a short distance to travel. An example of this kind of ferry is Ellen, the fully electric ferry in Denmark powered by Leclanché’s batteries. Leclanché is currently working on two electric ferries in Canada with 1.9 MWh and 4.6 MWh packs.
Its spokesperson differentiates between shorter ferry journeys and cruise ships and ferries with longer distances to travel and says these are moving towards hybridisation. For example, the batteries system provided to Grimaldi will support:
Seagoing mode |
Battery charging or discharging for peak shaving when abrupt load changing of main engine. |
Manoeuvring mode |
Shaft generator supply power to bow thruster when entering or leaving port. |
DG mode |
Shaft generator supply power to bow thruster when entering or leaving port. |
Shore power mode |
For a long stay in port with unnecessary battery and DG supplied, manual operation. |
PTI boost mode |
Battery supplied to shaft generator motor to boost main engine to maintain its constant load and raise vessel speed. |
Harbour ECO mode |
Eight hours cargo handling and hotel load supplied by battery. |
The 5 MWh they have on board will support these loads for about eight hours.
Leclanché is continuously working to improve its products. Leclanché says “Each year we define a roadmap to conduct these improvements. For example, we work on optimising the weight of the systems and reducing their cost. We improve our safety functionality. These developments are done inhouse, in our European sites, sometimes in collaboration with partners.”
The company is working on a battery system for an ice-breaking road ferry for Damen for Canadian operations.
“We are also providing batteries for a ferry that will make a connection between Finland and Sweden. This 80-km sea route is the alternative to an 800-km road. The ferry will be powered by dual fuel with LNG as a primary energy source and batteries will be used for port entry/departure, peak shaving, hotel load and boost power,” says the spokesperson. This eco-friendly ferry will reduce CO2 emissions by at least 50%.
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