Maritime Power News

With shipowners pressed to upgrade machinery to meet strict new emission targets, there’s much confusion with chatter surrounding ‘decarbonization’ and ‘future fuels’, solutions that don’t exist today – and may not exist in mass for another generation – cluttering the conversation. Enter Wabtec, formerly GE Transportation, which today offers a Tier 4 compliant engine with no need for urea. Is it the cheapest propulsion solution on the market? No. But the Pennsylvania-based engine builder mounts a compelling case for its 250MDC diesel engine based on performance…

Wärtsilä and classification society RINA announced a 'novel propulsion arrangement' that is designed to offer the benefits of full redundancy, less machinery, lower capital expenditure, reduced operational complexity, and optimized fuel consumption. The conventional approach in ship design has been to use 2-stroke engines for propulsion and 4-stroke engines for electric power generation. The Wärtsilä / RINA arrangement requires just two 4-stroke dual-fuel (DF) engines, with options for electric power back-up from batteries or a small DF generator when the ship is idle.

As the maritime industry searches for the means to meet ever tightening emission regulations, battery power sits at the center of future paths to decarbonization. Sterling PBES launched CanPower, an all-encompassing energy storage system (ESS) microgrid. The CanPower 'Microgrid in a Box' promises to add energy storage to virtually any vessel, without the need for complex design and build times.According to Sterling PBES, two of the main hurdles facing shipowners wishing to install ESS’ are the physical footprints of the systems and the complexity of the installation.