DNV GL innovations to improve safety and efficiency

At the Greener Shipping Summit – Ships of the Future conference held in Athens, Dr Nikolaos Kakalis, Head of DNV GL Strategic Research & Innovation in Greece, showed how the Viking Lady vessel could lead the way to a significant improvement in the safety and efficiency of high-risk operations.

The Viking Lady, an offshore supply vessel in daily operation in the North Sea, is a full-scale "test laboratory".

Dr Kakalis presented the specific battery hybrid propulsion system and its benefits for Viking Lady to the Greek shipping community. These results stem from the FellowSHIP III research and development project between DNV GL, Eidesvik Offshore and Wärtsilä, co-funded by the Research Council of Norway.

DNV GL Research & Innovation in Norway and in Greece are working together with shipping companies and manufacturers to realise projects like FellowSHIP that advance the industry.

“We went from idea generation through a fusion of innovative scientific approaches to technology development and full-scale testing in a structured and effective way,” said Kakalis.

The Viking Lady uses a conventional diesel-electric propulsion system, comprising four dual-fuel engines driving five thrusters for propulsion and manoeuvring/dynamic positioning (DP). In this project, a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 450 kWh was added, enabling the vessel to use hybrid-electric propulsion. The battery acts as an energy buffer that is able to cover the intense load variations that can occur, especially in DP and standby operations.

This effectively increases the propulsion system’s available power and redundancy, thereby increasing the level of safety in high-risk operations. This means that the gen-sets can operate with a relatively constant load and in an optimal way, making operations safer and more energy-efficient.

The battery hybrid installation has been tested in sea trials, which showed that a 15% reduction in fuel consumption, 25% reduction in NOx emissions and 30% reduction in GHG emissions can be realised in practice, especially for DP operations.

“Considering that the global fleet of offshore supply vessels of relevant sizes is over 4000, such technologies have the potential to make an impact when it comes to improving sustainability,” Kakalis noted.

COSSMOS, DNV GL’s in-house computer platform for modelling and simulating complex integrated ship machinery systems, played an important role in FellowSHIP III. COSSMOS provides an early-phase feasibility analysis, estimating the expected benefits in terms of energy efficiency, emissions and economics.

Dr Kakalis explained how advanced simulations and optimisation can direct the implementation of optimal power management strategies to arrive at maximum gains while ensuring the safety and operational capabilities of the vessel.

“DNV GL invests 5% of its revenue in research and innovation every year, which is a reciprocal investment to our customers and the industry as a whole, through technology development and better services. In the FellowSHIP series of projects we have invested more than US$ 2.5 million and we are glad to share such developments that improve safety and sustainability of our industry in practice,” Kakalis concluded.

Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/hse/12112014/dnv-gl-improving-safety-and-efficiency-1793/