Rhys BerryIn August, plans were unveiled for the world’s largest 100% electric Ro-Pax ferry. Speaking to ship.energy, Halvard Hauso, Commercial Director Europe at Corvus Energy, which is delivering the battery for the vessel, says the project can change the perception of what is possible for battery power in shipping.
‘A couple of years ago, the industry believed that 20 minutes, maybe half an hour on a 10-12 knot car ferry operation was the maximum you can do on battery-only,’ says Hauso. ‘Now this project has shown us that the battery can go with relatively high speed on a large vessel for quite a long time.’
The Ro-Pax ferry project has brought together Corvus, along with Australian shipbuilder Incat Tasmania and technology group Wärtsilä. The 230-metre-long vessel, which is currently under construction and scheduled for completion in 2025, is being built for South American ferry company Buquebus, and will operate between Uruguay and Argentina, carrying 2,100 passengers and 226 vehicles. With more than 40 MWh of energy storage, the battery system – the Dolphin NexGen – will be the largest installed onboard a ship, some four times as big as the current largest installation.
‘We had a previous Dolphin product and we realised that a lightweight product was something that the [shipping] business really wanted, even for non-weight-sensitive vessels like the large car ferry for Incat,’ explains Hauso. ‘We realised that the old system could have some improvement so we decided to make a completely new generation of the Dolphin. We came with the energy version first and we are coming with a power version a bit later. This energy version is the lightest of them all and we wanted to push the boundary and just get below 6 kilo per kilowatt hour which is less than half of the Orca [ESS] that we have.’
Another advantage is the volumetric shape and form, says Hauso. While most of the batteries in the marine market are based on a rack-based solution, Corvus sought to design a system which would make better use of space.
‘We’ve managed to bolt them on top of each other. That means you can fill the room and you don’t have dead space above a rack.’
Hauso suggests that the project could pave the way for the electrification of other routes such as Dover to Calais in the English Channel. However, there are still challenges onshore that need to be addressed if this is to take off.
‘Now people see that the technology is ready. The Incat example showcases that a vessel can cross Dover-Calais on battery-only – the challenge, however, is the infrastructure. With available shore power we can easily do the Dover-Calais emission free on battery only.’
Still, the power needed is considerable and not something a technology provider or a shipping company can solve on their own, says Hauso.
‘We depend on the utility companies as well as politicians in order to get the push we need. These processes are often very time consuming,’ says Hauso, adding that the alternatives to shore power are either building up batteries onshore or installing hydrogen fuel cells to charge the ferry.
Looking ahead, Corvus Energy is preparing to launch the latest iteration of the Dolphin ESS, the Dolphin Power which will have a different C-rate (Charge & discharge rate) to the Dolphin Energy that will enable the use of more power. The company is also working on hydrogen fuel cells. (At at the beginning of October, Corvus Energy announced it had signed the first order for its Pelican Fuel Cell system.) And according to Hauso, Corvus will be able to meet the requirements of the market should demand for marine battery and fuel solutions increase.
‘We now have three factories [in Norway, Canada and the US] and in the factory in Norway we are commissioning a new robotic line for the Dolphin NexGen, so we already have the production facility and capability to scale up.’
Image: Corvus Energy
Ian Taylor
