Orsted and Maersk Supply Service have formed a partnership to test an innovative charging buoy that can bring green electricity to offshore wind farm service vessels and potentially to a wide range of maritime vessels.
The buoy can be used to charge smaller battery or hybrid-electrical vessels and supply offshore wind power to larger vessels, enabling them to turn off their engines when laying idle.
The prototype buoy has been developed by Maersk Supply Service while Orsted is responsible for the buoy’s integration with the electrical grid at the offshore wind farm.
Orsted said it would make any intellectual property generated in designing the integration of the buoy into the offshore wind asset publicly available to maximise uptake across the offshore wind sector.
The charging buoy will be tested in the second half of 2021, where it will supply overnight power to one of Orsted’s service vessels.
By substituting fossil-based fuels with green electricity, virtually all emissions are eliminated while the buoy is in use.
Upon technical validation and commercial ramp up, the electrical charging buoy has significant potential, short to medium term, to contribute positively to reducing emissions for the maritime industry, the companies added.
Within five years of global operation, Maersk Supply Service has the ambition to remove 5.5 million tons of CO2, additionally avoiding pollutants including particulate matter, NOx, and SOx.
Orsted and Maersk said that as large parts of the global maritime fleet are getting ready to receive shore power in ports, timing is right for implementing this clean ocean-tech innovation.
The charging buoy is applicable as a mooring point outside ports, in offshore wind farms, and near vicinity to other offshore installations. Additionally, it could further help limit the increasing vessel congestions and remove air pollution in port areas.
“The charging buoy tackles a multitude of problems; lower emissions, offering a safe mooring point for vessels, better power efficiency and eliminating engine noise,” said Maersk Supply Service offshore renewables MD Jonas Munch Agerskov.
“This is also a solution that can be implemented on a global scale, and one that can be adapted as the maritime industry moves towards hybridisation and electrification,” he added.
“Orsted has set the ambitious target of having carbon neutral operations in 2025, which includes the operations of our offshore wind farms,” said Orsted Offshore senior vice president and head of operations Mark Porter.
“Technical and commercial innovation is central to Orsted’s ability to provide real, tangible solutions to achieve our operational ambitions – and we need our partners’ support.
“We are happy to team up with Maersk Supply Service to test this innovative charging buoy, which brings us a step closer to creating a world that runs entirely on green energy.”
Maersk Supply Service has received a grant from the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme, under the Danish Energy Agency, to support the demonstration phase of the project.
The Danish Maritime Fund provided initial support with project conceptualisation.