Offshore support vessel owners looking to ‘super-charge’ their fleets for charters will be interested in a new standardised, ISO-footprint containerised battery room solution
Developed by Norwegian-Canadian energy storage technology company Corvus Energy, the containerised solution called Corvus BOB is used for battery-on-board (BOB) applications to simplify integration and installation of energy storage and power management.
A long-time proponent of energy storage on board, Shell global category manager-marine Bo Jardine pointed to the environmental, flexibility and lifecycle benefits of Corvus BOB.
“Batteries are going to be on board as the industry decarbonises, regardless of which fuels are used now or in the future,” said Mr Jardine, who is responsible for chartering OSVs. “The benefit of a containerised battery system is that you can add more containers if additional capacity is needed or move containers to another vessel in your fleet if charter contracts or operational requirements require it. It is easy to exchange the ESS when new technology is available and take the ESS off for a second life onshore.”
Shell has been one of the charterers increasingly requiring battery storage in its tenders for OSVs to reduce fuel consumption, cut CO2 emissions and increase safety in their offshore energy activities. In OSV applications, battery hybrid propulsion can yield between 12% and 30% fuel reduction when applied to peak shaving and spinning reserve.
Besides the flexibility for owners, Corvus BOB reduces the upfront risk for shipyards since it can be pre-tested, assuring functionality before integration into a vessel. “Furthermore, costly rework to the vessel is avoided and turnaround to change battery capacity is faster,” noted Mr Jardine. The availability of a standardised solution allows owners and shipyards to avoid the cost and complexity of customised energy storage solutions.
A standardised, class-approved, modular battery room solution available in 10-ft and 20-ft ISO high-cube container sizes, Corvus BOB comes with battery modules, battery monitoring system (BMS), cooling, TR exhaust, and a firefighting and detection system. The ’plug and play battery room’ simplifies integration into any system integrator’s power management system on board a ship.
The first Corvus BOB system will incorporate the Corvus Orca ESS, a leading battery system suitable for offshore vessels, cruise and ferries, merchant vessels, workboats and fishing vessels.
Corvus Energy noted that Corvus BOB will also provide a supporting gateway for the integration of future fuel technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells into vessels.
“The Corvus BOB is a flexible, cost-effective energy storage solution that reduces complexity and risk for the system integrator, shipowners and design companies,” said Corvus Energy project lead and senior vice president solutions Ronald Hansen. “With the Corvus BOB, they get a fully approved stand-alone battery room without having to spend time on the configuration inside. The BOB is suitable for both retrofits and newbuilds and we are confident that the solution will enhance project planning and schedules in addition to saving time and cost for transportation, installation and commissioning.”
Corvus vice president sales Efraim Kanestrøm added that the company worked closely with shipowners and operators in the development phase of the product. “The ISO container footprint on the battery room is a well-known standard and makes the transportation and installation predictable for all parties.”
Corvus anticipates offering standardised Corvus BOB containers with a full range of Corvus batteries to allow vessel owners to choose the battery type and unit size best suited for each project application. Use of a common BMS will enable combinations of Corvus ESS with different characteristics to be installed and operate in concert to provide optimum energy and power availability.
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