SHAFT GENERATORS FOR CARBON CARRIERS

Norway’s Northern Lights carbon capture and storage (CCS) project will initially require two ships to transport captured CO2 from industrial emitters to an onshore terminal in Øygarden, Norway. From there, the CO2 will be delivered by pipeline to dedicated reservoirs 2,600 metres under the seabed in the North Sea for permanent storage.

The two ships will be built in China by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC) and will be able to carry up to 7,500 cubic metres of liquefied CO2 in purposebuilt pressurised cargo tanks.

ABB says its permanent magnet shaft generator system will increase the fuel efficiency of these vessels, reducing emissions as a result. It adds: “Combining this technology with variable speed engines allows harvesting power for all onboard systems through the rotating force of the shaft, significantly improving performance compared to a traditional setup with fixed speed engines.”

The system is driven by the main engine, enabling increased efficiencies for vessels with fewer or smaller gensets and, according to ABB, minimising both capital and operating costs. ABB claims its system weighs less and has a smaller installation footprint compared to a conventional solution, as well as high reliability and redundancy to enable over 99% uptime, and built-in safety features to help protect crew and equipment.

Emissions estimation algorithm “exceeds 90% accuracy”

Signal Ocean group says real-world results show its emissions estimates have a high degree of accuracy. Detailed back testing of actual CO2 emissions of about 40 tankers that have been part of the Signal Maritime pool against Signal Ocean’s algorithmbased estimates is reported to have shown that real-time emission estimates are accurate within less than a 10% margin of error.

Following the implementation of IMO's MARPOL Annex VI Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) regulation on 1 January 2023, the company asserts that accuracy is critical if owners, charterers and traders are to depend on them as a trustworthy indicator of a vessel’s CII rating in 2023 and beyond.

The company notes that while every vessel above 5,000 GT will have a publicly available CII rating ranging from A to E, this rating will only describe a ship’s performance in the previous calendar year and not how it has performed so far this year, nor how it is likely to perform tomorrow or for the rest of the year. Signal Ocean says its platform's vessel emission features and the Vessel Emissions API allow shipping participants to see in a simple, systematic and consistent way emissions for any proposed voyage and enable meaningful benchmarking and comparisons.

The Signal Ocean platform estimates vessel emissions, including CO2, from AIS data converted into voyages, where all stops for bunkering operations, idle times, repairs, loads and discharge operations are taken into account. At sea, ballast and laden legs and Sulphur Emission Control Area navigation times are clearly defined. Fuel consumption is mapped to different fuel types (VLSFO, MGO, HSFO) based on the area that vessels have been trading, as well as taking into consideration a rich set of vessel particulars, including dimensions, the country built, and year built, scrubber fitting, consumption curves, operational conditions and vessel speeds.

The algorithm underpinning Signal Ocean's estimates of vessel CO2 emissions has been verified as meeting IMO guidelines by classification society DNV.