In close cooperation with AIDA Cruises,
and partners SCHRAMM group GmbH & Co. KG, Ingo Schlüter GmbH & Co. KG,
EON Hanse Wärme GmbH, Bureau Veritas as well as Gasnor AS, Becker Marine Systems has developed the LNG Hybrid Barge,
which the company says isan environmentally-friendly and low
emission solution for supplying power to cruise ships lying in port.
Currently, cruise ships lying in port
generate the energy required for on-board operation by using the ships’
on-board diesel engines. The use of these engines, Becker Marine Systems says,
results in a high level of pollution containing harmful and airborne substances
in the form of soot particles.
The new concept solves this problem by
producing energy on the floating LNG Hybrid Barge from environmentally friendly
liquefied natural gas by means of five generators coupled to combined heat and
power engines, Becker Marine Systems says. The power generated can be fed into
the supply grid of the cruise ship as needed. The liquefied natural gas is
delivered in modular form, because this is less expensive than bunkering. An
LNG Bunker Station, ensuring supply at all times, is being built in
Brunsbüttel, Germany, by SCHRAMM group GmbH & Co. KG. Schramm group will also be the operator of the
LNG Hybrid Barge at the Hamburg port.
The use of the LNG Hybrid Barge will
significantly reduce particle emissions during port sojourns, says Becker Marine Systems, the Hamburg, Germany-based manufacturer
of high performance rudders and maneuvering solutions for any type of ship.
In contrast to the diesel engines currently in use, the company says, sulphur
oxides will no longer be produced during port layovers. The emission of
nitrogen oxides will be lowered by up to 80 percent and the output of carbon
dioxide by an additional 30 percent.
Another benefit, the company says, is the
year-round utilization of the system. The Hamburg energy provider, EON Hanse
Wärme GmbH, is planning to feed the energy produced in the cruise off-season
into the municipal grid, thus supplying electricity and heat to approximately
11,000 households (based on four-person households).
In autumn 2013 the AIDAsol should be the
first cruise ship in the world to be supplied with electricity by Becker Marine
Systems’ LNG Hybrid Barge at Hamburg’s HafenCity.