German power packs ease scrubber installation

Philipp Hesse, naval architect at Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG, said: “We are implementing this new technology as part of exhaust scrubber retrofitting on our four biggest container ships”. They are the identical 13,400 teu Fabiola, Filomena, Fillippa and Faustina – all with Samsung MAN B&W 12K 90MC main engines.

E-MS said its standardised, patent-pending S-PP system can be easily integrated into existing onboard electrical networks and solves the complex supply of power to scrubbers on seagoing vessels.

Döhle operates 100 container ships as well as 40 bulkers and other vessels and E-MS is clearly hopeful the S-PP installations will lead to more orders. E-MS Managing Director Peter Andersen said: “Promising negotiations are underway with other large charter and liner shipping firms and scrubber manufacturers”.

Andersen said scrubber manufacturers, shipyards and shipowners all faced the challenge of how to accommodate exhaust scrubbers on ships and connect them to onboard systems, particularly important power networks. “The technical complexity and expenditure associated with this is immense and often underestimated”, he said.

S-PP makes it easier not only to retrofit scrubbers, but also to install them on new ships, E-MS said. The system is based on a proven E-MS system called E-PP for supplying power to electric networks and propulsion systems on other ship types like cruise and research vessels. It allows precise control of required electrical energy, not only reducing fuel consumption, but also lowering exhaust emissions.

With S-PP, scrubber power supply is controlled directly from the medium voltage present at the main switchboard and only requires a single additional cabinet. The resulting AC voltage, which can be adapted to requirements, is therefore available independently of the rest of the low-voltage network on board, says E-MS. This completely eliminates the need to build a complex and expensive decentralised power supply with additional electrical components, it adds.