Offshore vessel owner Acta Marine is to fit one of its windfarm ships with a hybrid propulsion system that will reduce fuel consumption and make it greener
Wärtsilä is to provide hybrid propulsion capability for the walk-to-work/construction support vessel, which is designed for operation in the offshore wind and offshore oil and gas sectors.
As a result of the refit, Acta Centaurus, a DP2 vessel, will benefit from reduced fuel consumption and reduced emissions.
The hybrid system will enable Acta Marine to reduce running hours for the engines on board the ship, and the engines will spend less time running at part load, when they are most polluting and incur most wear. The change should therefore reduce the maintenance the engines require.
A hybrid propulsion solution is beneficial for vessels like Acta Centaurus that have fluctuating power requirements, spend part of the time operating in dynamic positioning mode and part in transit or at low speed.
On vessels of this type, hybrid propulsion can reduce CO2 emissions by around 15%, the propulsion specialist claimed.
The solution to be provided by Wärtsilä includes the hybrid drive, batteries – which will store energy – and an energy management system.
Wärtsilä will also carry out the installation, testing and commissioning of the hybrid system, and upgrade the existing onboard systems on Acta Centaurus to make them suitable for a hybrid drive.
The equipment will be installed during Q4 2019.
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