Affordable and clean energy
Sustainability
Said and done. Stena Teknik, our expert function in marine technology, took on the challenge and started developing an electromobility concept for the marine industry. The concept was realised in 2018 when Stena Jutlandica was converted to a battery hybrid vessel.
The battery project is an important part of Stena Line’s sustainability strategy. In the future, our target is to be able to navigate a vessel 50 nautical miles with electric power.
A three-step innovation
The project is carried out in three steps. Step one was about switching to electricity during port operations to reduce the use of diesel generators and replace traditional engines powering the bow thrusters. Expectations were exceeded only after one month of operation.
“We’ve been able to strongly reduce our use of diesel generators and now only need one instead of three generators.”
Johan Stranne, Senior Chief Engineer on Stena Jutlandica
Impressive savings
In this first step, the environmental savings from using battery power amount to an impressive 500 tons of fuel and a reduction of 1,500 tons of CO2. This corresponds to the annual emissions from approximately 600 cars.
“Another positive effect concerns safety”, says Johan Stranne. “By having constant access to electricity as a backup, we minimize the risk of a power outage”.
In the second step of the electromobility project, battery power will be complementing two of the four primary engines, which makes it possible for Stena Jutlandica to run on electrical power for about 10 nautical miles inside the Gothenburg archipelago, from the city and all the way out to open sea.
From start to finish
In the more futuristic step three, the ship’s main engines will be fully electric, and the ship will be able to cover the 50 nautical miles between Sweden and Denmark solely on electrical power.
– As both the size and cost of batteries decrease, battery hybrid operation is becoming a more realistic alternative to traditional fuel in short sea shipping. In a not-too-distant future, hopefully this is how our ferries are run altogether”, says Erik Lewenhaupt, Head of Sustainability at Stena Line.