Page 30: of Marine News Magazine (May 2015)

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PROPULSION (‘The Explorer’ is a SWASH (Small Waterplane Area Single

Hull) pilot boat with a hybrid drive system from Siemens.

Courtesy: Abeking & Rasmussen AG ? ows of an entire craft. The optimized hybrid system de- Hybrid Power in the Workboat Sector veloped during the project offers three major advantages. Industry is entering a period of rapid change and com-

They include no detectable emissions, no discernible noise mercial opportunity in the hybrid marine market. Own- and a substantial reduction in fuel consumption. ers and operators can now consider various hybrid systems with marine applications. DNV-GL USA, for example, recently stated that, “energy storage is an exciting new technology, but the offshore E&P sector of the oil and gas industry has yet to truly take advantage of it. Tugboats, workboats and OSVs are particularly suitable for hybrid- ization.” Bene? ts include improvements in energy reliabil- ity, increased fuel ef? ciency, lifecycle cost reductions and reduced emissions.

Battery powered electric motors have been available on small craft for many years. But until recently electric outboard motors had been mainly under 10hp for small ? shing boats, tenders and kayaks. The main obstacles to overcome before scaling up had been battery technology and the high initial cost of procurement. Deep Blue is an electric drive system that has been industrially developed and manufactured by the German company Torqeedo, us- ing high-tech components. The system is available as 40hp and 80hp inboard or outboard versions.

The next generation of cells and batteries are key technol- ogy developments that are making marine hybrid systems potentially viable. Battery chemistry such as Lithium-ion of- fer impressive power solutions and the business case is start- ing to ? t for commercial operators. Since there is no single system that ? ts every application, it is important to work with manufacturers that have ? exibility in cell manufactur- ing and offer scalable solutions. New factories with fully au- tomated processes ensure consistently high quality cells and quality control of the entire battery management system.

May 2015

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