Go electric or go home

By Cindy Chan

BC Ferries is working towards a clean future with the announcement of four more battery electric-hybrid Island Class vessels.

The company has awarded Damen Shipyards Group of the Netherlands the contracts to build the vessels that are scheduled to go into service in 2022. In 2017, Damen built two first-in-class of these types of vessels that have successfully completed sea trials, which arrived in Victoria, B.C. in January 2020.

According to Captain Jamie Marshall, who is also BC Ferries’ vice-president of business development and innovation, the four vessels are part of the company’s Clean Futures Plan, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by replacing carbon-intensive, fossil-fuelled vessels with ships that use clean energy.

“These next four Island Class ships are a major step in our plan to progressively lower emissions across the fleet and be a leader in the energy transition to a lower carbon future,” Marshall said in a release.

Marshall says BC Ferries is inspired by countries like Norway, whose transportation network is closer to carbon-neutral.

“We want to move towards lower route emissions across our fleet with the vision and goal of becoming carbon-neutral over the next several decades,” Marshall says.

The four battery electric-hybrid vessels will be identical to the two that arrived in January. They are 47-car ferries, each with a capacity for 300 to 450 passengers. They will operate some of BC Ferries’ interisland routes.

“They’re all ready for electric operation. That means when the shore infrastructure and funding is available, they’ll be fully electrical zero-emission vessels,” Marshall says.

BC Ferries has partnered with Corvus Energy who provides battery power for a lot of ferry operators in the world. The vessels are capable of having 2,000 kilowatts – or two megawatts – of battery power. However, they do have diesel generators as a secondary source of power.

The vessels are extremely quiet as well. The machinery is vibration-isolated to reduce underwater and ambient noise. The twin propellers are designed to reduce underwater-radiated noise. Marshall acknowledges that BC Ferries is a big user of the waterways, therefore generating a good portion of noise, but the new technology will be the quietest in operation.

Additionally, the vessels are outfitted with LED lighting with energy-saving technology built into them, heat recovery systems and Ocean Networks Oceanographic Sensors on the hull. The former is the result of a partnership between University of Victoria (UVic) and Ocean Networks Canada, who placed the sensors on the hull to monitor salinity and temperatures and overall study the Salish Sea.

Marshall recognizes the goal of becoming carbon-neutral is a hefty one, but BC Ferries is currently working with BC Hydro and the provincial and federal governments to look at ways to expedite the shore infrastructure that will enable the vessels to operate as fully electrical.