Gareth Dauley, Executive Vice President at scrubber technology firm Pacific Green Technologies Inc (PGTK) Battery Storage on Monday (4 January) published a summary on why lithium-ion battery storage is a commercially viable solution to zero carbon shipping considering the current volatility of the alternative fuels market:
Shipping poses a particular challenge from an energy transition point of view. The maritime transportation sector emits more than a billion tons of carbon dioxide a year and accounts for around 2.5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions a year, set to increase by up to 250% by 2050.
Unlike activities such as electricity generation, the carbon emissions from shipping are hard to avoid. Maritime transport belongs to a group of sectors, also including aviation and cement production, that cannot easily switch to renewable power generation to reduce carbon emissions.
Sailboats aside, maritime transport requires fuel. Traditionally, this has been obtained from the heaviest fractions of oil, which are highly polluting.
Concerns over sulfur emissions have led the International Maritime Organization to enforce reductions that have often required the use of scrubbers.
However, dealing with shipping’s carbon footprint will take a move away from bunker fuel—and batteries could play a key role, in at least two ways. The first is to allow for full-scale electrification of certain types of maritime transport.
Ships that travel short distances, for instance on ferry routes, can effectively become carbon neutral by using batteries for motive power and recharging them with renewable energy when at port.
This strategy is already being embraced by operators such as Washington State Ferries, which runs the world’s second-largest ferry system and is Washington’s biggest diesel polluter.
Ships that travel short distances, for instance on ferry routes, can effectively become carbon neutral by using batteries for motive power and recharging them with renewable energy when at port.
Last year, the company began an electrification program that will ultimately see it reducing carbon emissions from the consumption of 20 million gallons of diesel across a 22-vessel fleet. A spokesman for the ferry company has said the move will save “millions of dollars annually.”
Because ferry electrification can deliver up to 100% fuel savings today, a study by DNV GL for the European Maritime Safety Agency in May 2020 calculated batteries could achieve a payback time of less than five years for the sector.
Ferry electrification does not only need vessels to be equipped with battery systems, but also will likely require quayside batteries to optimize recharging times since smaller ports may lack the grid infrastructure for rapid charging.
Furthermore, the energy storage requirements for ferry electrification are likely to be significant. Although the ferry industry might not seem like a major transportation sector, in reality it is as big as commercial aviation, transporting more than 2.1 billion people a year.
For ocean-going vessels, meanwhile, batteries could still play an important part in decarbonization even though long-term solutions will require the use of alternative fuels such as biofuels, green hydrogen or ammonia.
The deployment of these alternative fuels is still in its infancy and there is no consensus on which fuel might become the ultimate replacement for bunker crude.
Photo credit: Pacific Green Technologies
Published: 6 January, 2020
‘This guidance underscores how ABS is well-positioned to assist (the industry) as they consider the practical implications of the use of ammonia as fuel,’ said Director.
Project aims to produce designs for a low-emission Chittagongmax container carrier of 2,700 TEU capacity.
The maritime industry is already gaining experience with the new fuels it will need to deliver a step change in emissions reduction, says Chris Chatterton.
Research studies use of methanol as fuel in converted diesel engines of smaller vessels in Sweden.
Analyses innovations in the wind propulsion sector and how it can enter the mainstream to realise its carbon abatement and fuel-saving potential.
‘ABB encourages the Subcommittee to set an ambitious, long-term national plan to achieve zero emissions for all vessels under its operation,’ says Peter Bryn.
Caroline Yang, President of SSA, addresses issues earlier raised by players; including PMC No. 04, the seven-day restriction, contactless bunkering, sampling point, hose connection, and more.
IBIA Asia, ABIS, sources from Singapore’s bunkering and surveying companies, and an industry veteran share with Manifold Times the issues expected from MPA’s latest Covid-19 measures.
The top three positive movers in the 2020 bunker supplier list are Hong Lam Fuels Pte Ltd (+13); Chevron Singapore Pte Ltd (+12); and SK Energy International (+8), according to MPA list.
‘We will operate in the Singapore bunkering market from the Tokyo, with support from local staff at Sumitomo Corporation Singapore,’ source tells Manifold Times.
Changes include abolishing advance declaration of bunkers as dangerous cargo, reducing pilotage fees on vessels receiving bunkers, and a ‘whitelist’ system for bunker tankers.
Claim relates to deliveries of MGO to the vessels Pacific Diligence, Pacific Valkyrie, Pacific Defiance, Crest Alpha 1, and Pacific Warlock between March 2020 to April 2020.
