Page 42: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2016)

GREAT SHIPS OF 2016

Interview:

Mika Koli, The Switch

Business Development Manager, The Switch – a Yaskawa Company (Photo: The Switch)

Concisely describe “The Switch.” ground in optimizing ef? ciency. This is The ? rst is the tanker M/T Ternsund,

The Switch is a 10 year old

The Switch is a specialist in advanced quite a good background for focusing on which is powered by a two-stroke LNG company working to ad- drive train technology, a manufacturer energy ef? cient solutions where cost of diesel. of permanent magnetic motors and fre- operations must be minimized. vance the world with electri- quency converters. We have been active If I’m a shipowner, why would I talk cal drive train technology. It in this for 10 years, to start in the wind Is every solution from The Switch cus- to The Switch?

is still a relative new player power industry. The company has an in- tom created? Ef? ciency, fuel savings, cost of opera- stalled base of over 11 GW of megawatt- Previously we tailored everything, now tions … we are able to deliver equip- in the global maritime sec- class permanent magnet machine and we want to concentrate on having more ment that will make our customers more tor with nearly four years of power converter packages. The main ef? cient ways to work on smaller proj- competitive.

focus areas are wind, marine and special ects. (ie. moving away from custom experience, but its ? rst refer- industrial solutions. design and manufacturing for each proj- Most see a dif? cult maritime market ence ships with The Switch ect). We want to have product standard- today. Tell us how you see the market?

What was the impetus for the start of ization so that we are able to act more When times are a bit slower, people and technology onboard are

The Switch? quickly, using modules and products that companies tend to have a bit more time starting to ply the world’s

Wind power has been the main market we have and then, with small tailoring, to look into new developments. When to date for The Switch, but we have we can offer a variety of products. the industry is going through tough waterways – including one high expectations for the marine market times, regardless of the oil and fuel price of this year’s “Great Ships of for the future. We have a very promis- Looking at the markets you serve, put being low, especially then you still want 2016,” Ternsund. Maritime ing start, and we see that there are many the marine market in perspective. to be competitive, and spending less on companies happy to see us in this space. You have to put in perspective that we fuel is a good thing when the price are

Reporter & Engineering started seriously in marine about three high or low. With our technology, ships

News met with Mika Koli,

So how does experience in the wind and a half years ago. Relatively, that’s a will be future proof, giving ship owners a power market translate to the marine short time, but now there are ships with comparative advantage over competitors

Business Development Man- industry? our shaft generators sailing, which is a when it comes to operational costs. For ager, for his insights on The

We have much experience with many big achievement for us. But in this short example, while prices for batteries are turbine manufacturers, and in the wind time, we already have approximately 20 coming down, they are not coming down

Switch and its future in mari- industry you have hundreds of turbine ships sold, and it is starting to grow very perhaps as fast as some would like. With time.

(references), so you really have to brush fast. our system you have everything in place up your drive train and focus on ef? - to leverage the bene? ts of batteries once

By Greg Trauthwein ciency. That has given us excellent back- What type of vessels? the prices hits an acceptable.

(Photo: The Switch) 42 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • DECEMBER 2016

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