A refit that included an electronic bus link and hybrid battery solution has improved fuel, emissions, maintenance and operational flexibility
The refit of North Sea Shipping’s multi-purpose construction support vessel North Sea Giant saw the vessel equipped with a hybrid-battery solution that promises significant efficiency gains and reduced maintenance and emissions.
The technology incorporates an electronic bus link (EBL) from Yaskawa Environmental Energy/The Switch. The EBL, in combination with a retrofitted Wärtsilä hybrid solution, connects North Sea Giant’s DC-hubs, providing complete redundancy, enhanced efficiency and significant fuel savings. This allows the vessel to operate in DP 3 class mode operations using just one engine, instead of three.
The Wärtsilä hybrid power system operates in combination with diesel generators and energy storage systems along with the EBL.
Yaskawa Environmental Energy/The Switch director technical solutions, marine business Asbjørn Halsebakke called the fuel, maintenance and emissions savings derived from the system’s use “game-changing”. The expectations are that North Sea Giant’s DP3 power arrangement could save up to 2M litres of a fuel per year.
The EBL connects the vessel’s DC-hubs, while also rapidly disconnecting them in 10 microseconds to isolate potential faults and ensure seamless operations. As such, it provides redundancy and flexibility between DC-hubs, ensuring the availability of power and safe ongoing operations.
The final commissioning of the system took place in Haugesund, Norway, in the first half of March. North Sea Shipping is forecasting significant environmental benefits from the new hybrid solution, with estimated annual emission reductions of 5.5M kg CO2, 30,000 kg NOx and 1,200 kg SOx.
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