The hull of ground-breaking new trawler Spes Nova UK-205 has arrived in Stellendam for fitting out, later than expected, but with work at the Maaskant Shipyard now in progress to get this innovative vessel ready for completion by autumn.
Spes Nova UK-205 has been developed in collaboration with naval architect Vripack, and Pon Power and EST-Floattech have been selected as suppliers for the power arrangement of three Caterpillar generator sets coupled to a power management system with a lithium battery set-up.
An intelligent energy regeneration system has also been developed for functions such as shooting warp from the winches, which are also a very new design produced by DMT Marine Equipment’s factory in Romania.
‘This ship was different right from the first drafts. The ship will have to work for the next twenty years, use as little energy as possible, and be as safe as possible for the crew,’ said Louwe de Boer of Urk-based operating company Ekofish.
‘At the moment, we’re still burning a half litre of fuel per kilo of fish caught, and we have to bring that down to a maximum of 0.3 litres. To reach that goal, we deliberately chose not to chart a course with the same old ship- or trawler architects. So we started from scratch. That’s why we asked yacht designer Vripack Naval Architects to provide the design, and we approached Pon Power for the generator sets and EST-Floattech for their energy storage solutions.’
‘Ekofish asked us to help them build the most sustainable vessel possible. At Pon Power and Caterpillar, we lead the way in making fishery more sustainable, so we thought it would be a good challenge to take on with our sister company, battery builder EST-Floattech,’ said Noud Seegers, marine business account manager at Pon Power,.
‘We looked at several options for the power supply in the early stages of the process. We eventually chose for three identical C18 generator sets with a capacity of 565 EKW at 60Hz, plus a C4.4 ACERT harbour set providing 99 EKW at 50Hz.’
This fully parallel installation is coupled to a power management system with batteries, offering a number of advantages.
‘The skipper can start with a different generator set each week. Whenever he needs more power, then he can call on a second or third generator set. And when the vessel falls under a certain load factor, then one of the generator sets will shut off automatically. It’s a smart system that allows us to make the optimal use of the generator sets, in combination with the batteries. That means each individual engine has fewer running hours per year, which is maintenance-friendly and helps cut costs. But it also helps conserve fuel. We don’t have any influence on the price of fuel, but we do have a say in how much we burn.’
According to Koen Boerdijk at EST-Floattech, a further benefit of the electric power system is that a battery system can store the electricity regenerated as the fishing gear is shot away.
‘It will emit less CO2 and use less fossil fuel, because we can use the batteries to compensate for peak load – what we call peak shaving. A ship’s engine operates most efficiently at loads of more than around 50%. By using the batteries, you allow the engines to operate more efficiently within its optimal power band. Plus, you can use fewer engines, or smaller ones,’ he said.
‘When operating under electric power, as is the case when moored or sailing in the harbour, you don’t use any fuel at all, and you have no emissions. The batteries are also maintenance-free. So there are plenty of plus points, and we’re therefore very proud of this project’
