Hyundai Heavy Industries’ holding company for its shipbuilding operations, Korean Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering (KSOE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with battery manufacturer Standard Energy committing both parties to specific roles in commercialising a vanadium-ion-based battery system for maritime use
According to the terms of the agreement, KSOE will provide designs for an energy storage system (ESS) for maritime to Standard Energy, which will then manufacture and supply the vanadium-ion battery configurations to the shipyard.
The two companies said they plan to develop a megawatt-class vanadium-ion battery-based ESS for ships to be demonstrated at sea, with a view to having the solution certified by a class society within the first half of 2023.
Further, the MoU aims to complete the basic designs for a ’next-generation’ electric vessel, and KSOE said it aims to gain a strong foothold in the rapidly growing market for electric ships by developing a highly stable marine ESS.
“The ESS for ships that we are currently working on will be suitable for electric and hybrid vessels as well as general merchant ships as it will be free of the risk of explosion or fire,” KSOE’s statement said. “We will accelerate efforts to develop next-generation ships, such as power transfer vessels, which are expected to increase in demand along with the rapidly growing global offshore wind power market.”
Announcing the MoU, KSOE touted a list of advantages that it said vanadium-ion batteries offer over lithium ions, the material currently used in most energy storage systems (ESS).
A vanadium-ion battery, which contains an electrolyte made from a mixture of water and ground vanadium, is "fundamentally free from the risk of explosion or fire," and features minimal heat production even in the event of overcharge or shocks, KSOE said.
KSOE claimed the output power of vanadium-ion batteries is nearly double that of lithium ion batteries and that vanadium-ion ESS lifespans are more than four times longer than those based on lithium-ion batteries.
"It is almost free from aging-induced degradation over repeated charge and discharge cycles, showing high stability and excellent durability," KSOE said.
KSOE and Standard Energies siad the MoU reflects the two companies’ commitment to develop and commercialise a highly stable maritime vandium-ion ESS, demonstrate the ESS on small, seagoing vessels, achieve certification from a classification society for the ESS and to develop next-generation ships such as electrically powered ships and power transfer vessels.
According to Standard Energy’s LinkedIn profile, the company was founded in 2013 by a group of researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The company said it and its employees hold more than 200 patents and that its formation was funded by venture capital and national grants, including some US$9M in Series C funding from investors.
"We are currently manufacturing prototype products for customers," the company profile said.
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.