Electric ferry shore charging deal

The choice of Corvus’ Orca Energy ESS follows the contract awarded to the company in 2017 to supply the ESSs onboard the two new low-emissions hybrid-electric ferries that will operate on the Brekstad-Valset route, as well as one ferry on the Husavik-Sandvikvåg route—all designed by Multi Maritime and operated by Fjord1.

“A project of this magnitude requires reliable, safe and cost-effective power and energy storage systems”, says Stein Ruben Larsen, vice president of sales at NES. “With the Orca ESS from Corvus, we achieve all of those objectives.”

Grid charging

Each shore station will have a capacity of 565KWh, charged from the grid with clean, renewable hydro-electric power. The 1137KWh Corvus Orca Energy ESS systems onboard the Brekstad-Valset ferries are a key component of the NES hybrid-electric propulsion system.

Although the ferries will be equipped as hybrid ferries with batteries and diesel engines, the diesel engines will have limited use in docking, or in case of a power outage on the power grid, or during rescue-operations. Normal operation will be all-electric, powered by the Corvus batteries.

Construction of the Brekstad-Valset ferries is underway at Havyard Ship Technology with delivery scheduled towards the end of 2018.