Van Oord Tests Electric Crane Vessel
Van Oord, in cooperation with ZEDHub, Smart Delta Drechtsteden, the Municipality of Dordrecht and Port of Rotterdam, has demonstrated the operation of the fully electric crane vessel Christiaan P, a first for the dredging industry.
Christiaan P. is a crane vessel owned by Paans Van Oord which was retrofitted to remove its engines and replace them with electric motors. The crane was also replaced by an electric one. The vessel is used for various kinds of marine engineering work, mainly dredging projects and the installation of shore protection and revetments.
For the pilot, two DENS Powerhub mobile battery systems of 870kWh each were used. The batteries were charged at night at the shore power point in Dordrecht. In addition, a Nexus fuel cell and a hydrogen storage container were installed on board, so that the batteries can be charged when shore power is not available.
During the pilot project, research was conducted into how effective and efficient battery-electric dredging is in practice. Various measurements were carried out, such as energy consumption when sailing at different speeds and during light and heavy dredging operations.
In addition, testing was done on how the batteries are charged via shore power and the ship's own generator. Research was also conducted into whether the batteries can be continuously charged during work using hydrogen.
The pilot project took place in the seaport of Dordrecht and was partly financed by the Regio Deal Drechtsteden-Gorinchem.
All the trials and tests went extremely well, says Van Oord, and the data is now being analyzed.
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