Page 45: of Marine News Magazine (June 2016)
Combat & Patrol Craft Annual
Read this page in Pdf, Flash or Html5 edition of June 2016 Marine News Magazine
44
46
ing how many Kilowatts of battery energy are required to replace Kilowatts of diesel energy.
Hybrid for Wind Farm Service Vessels
Certain maritime sectors are potentially well suited to hybrid diesel / electric systems. These include pilot boats and wind farm support vessels undertaking maintenance.
Both have relatively consistent duty cycles, often running seven days a week, to drop off or collect pilots and techni- cians. If wind, wave and tidal energy installations are striv- ing for genuine ‘green’ credentials it is logical to reduce consumption of fossil fuels wherever possible.
A typical working day starts with the WFSV crew pre- paring the vessel for departure at 06.00. The vessel would be disconnected from shore power which has been used for overnight battery charging. The vessel can leave the dock on battery/electric power, which also means zero emis- sions. At the outer sea buoy, diesel power takes over for the high speed transit out to the wind farm and to deliver the technicians onto the wind turbines, during which time, batteries are recharging.
Many vessels have hours of waiting in the wind farms, as they are on standby they cannot anchor. Loitering at low speed and low revs is not an ef? cient load cycle for diesel engines, plus it leads to increased maintenance and reduced engine life. This loitering period could be on bat- tery power. Later in the day, diesel power is used for the high speed transit to port, with the batteries again recharg- ing. At the sea buoy, battery power takes over to enter the harbor, with zero emissions.
Next Generation Cells and Batteries
US battery manufacturer XALT Energy has the expe- rience of taking high voltage battery projects from con- cept through cell production into the ? nished system for maritime applications. The company works with builders, naval architects and operators to analyze workboat duty cycles. Robert Young, Technical Lead for Marine Appli- www.marinelink.com
MN June16 Layout 32-49.indd 45 5/17/2016 10:44:27 AM
