Page 38: of Marine News Magazine (October 2023)

37 39

Green Tech

Electri? cation

Skagit County Opens Bidding to

Build Electric Ferry

By Eric Haun

Washington’s Skagit County is inviting U.S. shipyards trial, based in Canada, was selected to serve as electrical to bid for a contract to construct a new all-electric car and systems integrator.

passenger ferry. Glosten developed a 160-foot-long double ended ro-pax

In 2017, Skagit County Public Works enlisted Glosten ferry with a propulsion plant consisting of twin Schot- to design an environmentally friendly all-electric replace- tel L-drive azimuthing thrusters, electrically driven by a ment for the diesel-powered ferry Guemes, which has ser- battery-electric system. The vessel’s energy storage system viced the half-mile route between Anacortes and Guemes (ESS) will be manufactured by Corvus Energy, with bat-

Island since 1979. teries sized for round-trip operations as shore charging will

After some funding-related delays, the county approved occur in Anacortes only. For auxiliary, the vessel will also the Seattle-based naval architecture ? rm’s preliminary de- be equipped with a Caterpillar C18 marine diesel genset. sign in 2021, and later that year Canal Marine & Indus- The steel-hulled Subchapter-T vessel will have an alumi-

Glosten 38 | MN October 2023