Pieter Dijkstra: Don’t leave it halfway

He explains that what most companies do is iterate their way, inching up toward change, “rather than making a big step ‘from the floor to the ceiling’ as we say in Holland”. But this process “means you get all the pain of both worlds rather than the benefits”.

The fact that Finnish-based Visedo walked away recently with the entire electrical element of the e-Ferry project means people are now responding to the call for that ‘big step up’. However, it certainly surprised a majority of the sector – including Mr Dijkstra. “We were phoned… but I was very cautious about getting involved with a huge project like this, especially one that a large multinational company like Siemens was walking away from.”

In the end it was partly curiosity that got Mr Dijkstra on his motorbike and riding all the way to Denmark for a meeting. Although there were a few others in the frame, “time was of the essence as the funding had to hit deadlines”. Reading between the lines it seems Mr Dijkstra’s enthusiasm probably convinced the Natura Project partnership that Visedo could give it the necessary attention: “It’s the only multimillion euro project I’ve won with no bid writing, just a check on the budget.”

However, it’s taken a long time to get companies onboard. Since the late 90s he has found himself being “the one in the corner who knows the clever tricks with electrical power” but until recently, not enough real attention has been paid to exactly what those tricks could do for the industry. Working first for ABB and then breakaway company Vacon, he was a specialist in systems that were novel enough “to take up a lot of man hours while not necessarily having the volume of orders to match”.

While a set of five DP class coastal vessels “got very close” to making the most of new technology and even installed an efficient DC distribution onboard, “the rest of the gains were left unrealised”. It was the same story with two inland vessels: customers wanted to stick with traditional components despite having the benefits of elements like permanent magnet drives and variable speed engines set out. “The customer even recognised we could save more than 5% fuel and 7 tonnes of weight: the other system was around 12 tonnes, we could do it at 4.5 tonnes… but the answer was still no.”

It was a little frustrating he admits, adding he got used to hearing the phrase “very interesting – but not yet”. However, he kept working at it as there was so much to be gained especially, as he says “nothing in these modern alternative energy supplies coughs up a standard 440V 50hz anymore”, all of it needs levelling out and rectifying, “so why not do it the simplest way possible?”

His advantage is that he understands advantages and shortfalls in both present and potential technology, having put valuable time and effort into developing an inverter-based algorithm to guarantee DC-bus stability under both normal and abnormal load conditions that could work without the usual, cumbersome layers of extra management, going much further than AC and stealing a march even on the usual DC systems.

It was this that moved a full installation closer: finally back in 2010 a megayacht proved the principle and it gave him the impetus to set up small company to answer the whisper of interest. He also started incorporating a robust converter he’d discovered from the heavy vehicle market into potential designs, although the maker, Visedo, was not focused on marine applications.

A proposition for two Gothenburg City ferries in environmentally sensitive Sweden made him keen to show off: “I carried in a 250kW Visedo converter to the Työvene shipyard with me – normally you can’t lift these things – so they looked at me and asked, ‘Do you have any idea how big these ferries really are?’ Luckily they were brave enough to believe us and take that first step.” The result was a pair of very efficient DC-grid vessels with permanent magnet gensets and motors that save about 65% space on the drive chain and weight to match.

At this point partner Visedo gave in to the inevitable and decided it needed a marine division after all – led by its main protagonist.

It has, however, required a business rethink. Mr Dijkstra admits that one particular issue concerned market realities. “I eventually realised that what we do removes a lot of work from the systems integrator so although the components might be slightly more expensive there’s less to build less in the way of switchboards, taking maybe EUR70,000 from the integrator’s portfolio. So now our attention lies with the naval architects and shipyards.” Who knows how many good ideas founder because vested interests want to keep comfortable?

However, the industry is now starting to see the potential for this kind of technology. Beyond the all-electric 30m ferry there’s Damen’s Ecoliner which will also be making use of the Visedo system, and others are not far behind.

There’s no doubt that ‘big step’ gets easier when more people decide there is room for change.

By Stevie Knight