Special noordelijke scheepsbouw

By S. Bruins

Energy Optimisation
with Hybrid Technology
The technical lifespan of a ship is around thirty years. The economical lifespan, however, due to
technical progress, is lower. Retrofitting battery based energy storage systems on existing ships
can reduce operational costs. Depending on priority, the focus can be on decreasing maintenance
intervals, decreasing fuel consumption or increasing range. Without large changes to the
equipment and their control philosophy, existing installations can still be improved. Measurements
on the actual ship can be used to find the optimal solution for a specific ship.

Figure 1. Typical The shipping industry is a competitive market. Therefore, it is im-

setup with two portant that the operational expenditures (OPEX) are as low as
auxiliary engines possible without a large impact on the capital expenditures
expanded with (CAPEX). Maintenance and fuel costs impact the OPEX. This
batteries. makes fuel savings and decreasing maintenance intervals impor-
tant subjects.
For this article, a setup consisting of two or more auxiliary en-
gines, a thruster and a load is considered. Without large implica-
tions, this system can be extended with a battery based energy
storage system as shown in the dotted line in figure 1.
Extension of this system involves:
• extension of the switchboard for the converter;
• installation of the converter and the batteries; and
• adding the converter and batteries to the alarm, monitoring
and control system.
With this battery based energy storage system, the load on the
engines can be manipulated. The converter will influence the fre-
quency on the main busbar. Based on the frequency droop curve
of the generator, this will result in a constant load of the genera-
tor. Dependent on client demands, three types of strategies can
be distinguished.

Figure 2. Peak
shaving.

38 SWZ|MARITIME

Peak Shaving
With this strategy, the system will prevent the load on the generator
to exceed the threshold where a second generator will be started.
As long as the battery is not fully discharged, it will keep the load on
the generator on the maximum level. If the total load becomes low-
er, it will charge the battery and keep the load on the generator on
the maximum level until the battery is charged. This principle is
shown in figure 2.
This technique is especially useful for systems with long power
peaks. Benefits are:
• no short starts and stops of diesel engines; and
• usage of smaller diesel engines.
Power Smoothening
With this strategy, the load of the generator will be averaged and
the battery system will be discharged during short peaks and
charged during short dips. Therefore, the load on the generator will
be more constant, which improves fuel efficiency and reduces
maintenance costs of the generator. Figure 3 explains the power
smoothening principle.
This technique is useful for all systems. Benefits are:
• reduced fuel consumption;
• less engine wear and tear;
• usage of slightly smaller diesel engines;
• no short starts and stops of diesel engines; and
• it allows for more variation in the thruster load.
Fully Electric
When opting for a fully electric strategy, the load delivered by the
battery system is dependent on the state of charge (SoC) of the bat-
Jaargang 140 •
Stefan Bruins is Technisch Specialist Marine &
Offshore bij Eekels, s.bruins@eekels.com.
Figure 3. Power
smoothening
averages the load
of the generator.
teries. When the batteries are fully charged, maximum power will
be delivered by the batteries and minimum power will be delivered
by the generator. When the batteries are fully discharged, minimum
power will be delivered by the batteries and maximum power will
be delivered by the generator. With this strategy, initial power will
be delivered by the batteries and the generator will assist when
the batteries are discharged. This is especially useful in harbours.
The batteries can be charged with clean energy from a shore con-
nection allowing a ship to sail out of the harbour without any emis-
sions. This principle is shown in the figure below.
This technique is useful for short sea shipping and yachts. The
benefit is that the diesel engines are not used during the start of a
trip.
Reliability
An additional benefit (independent of the chosen strategy) of hy-
brid technology is the increased level of reliability. When running
with one generator, the battery system will act as an uninterrupt-
ible power supply (UPS) when the generator fails. This prevents
black out situations when starting the second generator. Manoeu-
vring, for instance, can be performed with only one generator on-
line.
Interaction of Generator and Converter Per Strategy
By changing the output frequency of the converter, the load of the
generator will change. The converter can be considered as a grid
running in parallel with the generator. The system prevents deep
charge and discharge of the batteries and overloading of the batter-
ies. How the generator and converter interact will now be dis-
cussed for each operating strategy.
Figure 4. A fully
electric operation
where batteries
are charged from
shore.
39
 Special noordelijke scheepsbouw

Figure 5. Peak
shaving droop
behaviour.

Figure 7.
Generator
smoothening
droop behaviour.

the maximum load of the generator. The various scenarios for this
control philosophy are listed in the following table.

Figure 6.
Generator peak
shaving.
Peak shaving: The interaction between the generator and the con-
verter for the peak shaving strategy is presented in figure 5. The
converter controls the load of the generator by determining the
busbar frequency. As long as the batteries are not fully charged or
discharged, the busbar frequency is set at a level corresponding to
Scenario Behaviour
Load Battery SoC
Above Above Generator running at a
generator minimum state frequency corresponding
maximum of charge to the maximum load level.
Batteries are discharging.
Below Below Generator running at a
generator maximum state frequency corresponding
maximum of charge to the maximum load level.
Batteries are charging.
Below Above No use of the batteries.
generator maximum
maximum state of charge
Above Below No use of the batteries.
generator minimum state Startup of next generator.
maximum of charge
Table 1. Generator startup prevention scenarios.

40 SWZ|MARITIME
 Special noordelijke scheepsbouw

Based on real life data, this results in the total load division and bat-
tery SoC as shown in figure 6.
Generator smoothening: Figure 7 shows the interaction between the
generator and the converter when choosing for the generator
smoothening option. The converter controls the load of the genera-
tor by determining the busbar frequency. As long as the batteries
are not fully charged or discharged, the busbar frequency is set at a
level corresponding to the average load of consumers. The various
scenarios for this control philosophy are shown in table 2.

Scenario Behaviour Figure 8. Total

Total load Battery SoC load division and
Higher or lower Above minimum Frequency at level battery state of
than average state of charge corresponding with average charge for
load (charging/ and below power consumption, charge generator
discharging) maximum state and discharge of the smoothening.
of charge batteries.
Lower than Below minimum Frequency at level
average load state of charge corresponding with average
(charging) power consumption, charge
of the batteries
Higher than Above maximum Frequency at level
average load state of charge corresponding with average
(discharging) power consumption,
discharge of the batteries
Higher than Below minimum No use of the batteries.
average load state of charge
Lower than Above maximum No use of the batteries.
average load state of charge
Table 2. Peak shaving scenarios.
Figure 10. Load
division and
Based on real life data, this results in the total load division and bat- battery state of
tery SoC as portrayed in figure 8. charge for fully
Fully electric: Figure 9 shows the interaction between the genera- electric
tor and the converter by means of fully electric operation. The con- operations.

Figure 9. Fully
electric droop
behaviour.

Jaargang 140 • 41
 Special noordelijke scheepsbouw
verter controls the load of the generator by determining the busbar
frequency. Busbar frequency is set at a level corresponding to the
state of charge of the batteries. During the start of a trip (for in-
stance, when leaving the harbour), the batteries will be used and
the system will run with minimal generator power. During the trip,
the user can decide to charge the batteries by using spare genera-
tor power. At the end of a trip (for instance, when entering the har-
bour), the batteries will be used and the system will run with mini-
mal generator power. The table below lists the various scenarios for
this control philosophy.
Scenario Behaviour
Total load Battery SoC
Lower than Above minimum Frequency corresponding
maximum state of charge to the state of charge of the
battery power and below batteries, high state of
maximum state charge results in a low load
of charge on the generator and vice versa.
Lower than Below minimum No use of the batteries.
maximum state of charge
battery power
Table 3. Fully electric scenarios.
42
Based on real life data, this results in the total load division and bat-
tery state of charge as shown in figure 10 on the previous page.
Batteries Will Reduce Operational Costs
By using only limited hardware and limiting the implications for the
remaining part of the installation, hybrid technology can result in
significant benefits for a business. Depending on the type of busi-
ness, hybrid technology for peak shaving, generator smoothening or
fully electric operations with the correct dimensioning of the batter-
ies can reduce a ship’s operational expenditures. Whether the fo-
cus is on extending a ship’s range, preventing unnecessary diesel
engine starting, reducing fuel consumption or even faster ships, hy-
brid technology has the potential to contribute to all of these goals.
The most efficient solution depends on power demands, battery siz-
ing, generator dimensioning and control philosophy. Based on data
provided, simulations can be performed to determine the best possi-
ble solution to a specific situation.
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