40 MWh ferry

[bigbAZ]

For your viewing pleasure

This 400-foot electric ferry is powered by 275 tons of batteries. Its manufacturer calls it a 'giant leap forward' for shipping.

Australia's Incat launched the world's largest electric ship, featuring a massive 40 MWh battery, marking a milestone in clean maritime transport.

tech.yahoo.com

 

[DonTom]

For your viewing pleasure

This 400-foot electric ferry is powered by 275 tons of batteries. Its manufacturer calls it a 'giant leap forward' for shipping.

Australia's Incat launched the world's largest electric ship, featuring a massive 40 MWh battery, marking a milestone in clean maritime transport.

tech.yahoo.com

"

• "Incat's vessel featured a 40 MWh battery, the largest energy system ever installed on a ship."
  
  
  I wonder where they charge it. If charged on a one-million-watt max DCFC, it will take longer than 40 hours to fill it up.
  
  -Don- Auburn, CA
  
  
  

 

[bigbAZ]

"

• "Incat's vessel featured a 40 MWh battery, the largest energy system ever installed on a ship."
  
  
  I wonder where they charge it. If charged on a one-million-watt max DCFC, it will take longer than 40 hours to fill it up.
  
  -Don- Auburn, CA
  

They're saying 1 to 1.5 hours, but that doesn't say how much charge will be in reserve and how much they will charge it up to. The video mentions a 1C charge rate which would mean 40MW from zero to 100%. But doubtful they will be charging from zero to 100%. Still some serious mega watts.

 

[DonTom]

The video mentions a 1C charge rate which would mean 40MW from zero to 100%.

It will probably be ~15-80% just like most EV charging unless it has to balance the cells at 100% SOC once in a while.

I wonder what the odds are of a battery fire in that boat.

I am not sure how close I would want to be to 40MW charging.

Does it say anywhere how many MWHs will be used for most trips and what the total motor current draw is in normal operation?

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[bigbAZ]

Does it say anywhere how many MWHs will be used for most trips and what the total motor current draw is in normal operation?

-Don- Auburn, CA

I didn't see that anywhere. I also read that Washington State Ferries, who has the largest fleet of ferries in the country, has plans to do the same with their ferries. The projected date was 2040 but I believe that has been pushed out due to the need to restore and bring back on line 3 ferries that were mothballed during Covid and are now needed.

Ferry system electrification | WSDOT

wsdot.wa.gov

 

[DutchmenSport]

They are saying it's 100% battery operated, but where is the power coming from to charge those batteries. I don't see any solar panels on top of that ship. Are they are STILL using fossil fuel to create the electricity to charge the batteries. Or are they plugging that ship into a solar panel field for charging. It's BS if the ship is charged by a fossil fuel power source.

 

[bigbAZ]

From a quick Google search:

Latin America currently is up to about 65% of their total generated electricity coming from clean sources including wind, solar, hydro and their nuclear generated power is increasing. Hydro is their biggest generator at 41%.

Doubtful they would be investing this much if it wasn't going to reduce carbon emissions in a meaningful way.

 

[DonTom]

They are saying it's 100% battery operated, but where is the power coming from to charge those batteries. I don't see any solar panels on top of that ship. Are they are STILL using fossil fuel to create the electricity to charge the batteries. Or are they plugging that ship into a solar panel field for charging. It's BS if the ship is charged by a fossil fuel power source.

"which are charged from hydro power."

See here.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Lou Schneider]

They are saying it's 100% battery operated, but where is the power coming from to charge those batteries. I don't see any solar panels on top of that ship. Are they are STILL using fossil fuel to create the electricity to charge the batteries. Or are they plugging that ship into a solar panel field for charging. It's BS if the ship is charged by a fossil fuel power source.

Solar charging won't work if the ferry is in use during the day and recharges at night. And the amount of solar needed would far exceed the surface area of the ferry. 40 MWh is the daily power used by approx. 1500 houses, and if 100% of the available renewable energy is already being consumed non-renewable power (fossil fuels) will have to be increased to cover the added load.

 

[bigbAZ]

The vessel is 400 feet long and guessing 100 feet wide so that is about 40,000 square feet or almost an acre. A Google search says it takes approx 5 acres of solar panels to generate 1MW. So even if they covered it in solar panels it wouldn't really be a viable charging option at sea.

 

[bigbAZ]

I'm betting with those eight waterjets for propulsion it will be a dream to maneuver and dock.

 

[DonTom]

Solar charging won't work if the ferry is in use during the day and recharges at night.

Unless that solar field has a few thousand Tesla Power Walls (or whatever) to hold the charge for the night.

I have solar on this house which I mainly use at night to run the house.

IOW, I charge up the Tesla Powerwall in the middle of the sunny day when the PG&E KWH rate is less.

I use the Tesla Power Wall during the peak time in the evening when PG&E charges more per KWH.

I can configure the Powerwall to do whatever I want it to with the Tesla app. I can pick my percentages of how much I want it to charge from the grid or/and from solar and the times I want it to charge and be used. And even the percentage of how much I use from the grid and Powerwall.

For an example, if a power outage is expected, I will make sure the Powerwall is fully charged up and keep it that way and use the grid more.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[DonTom]

The vessel is 400 feet long and guessing 100 feet wide so that is about 40,000 square feet or almost an acre. A Google search says it takes approx 5 acres of solar panels to generate 1MW. So even if they covered it in solar panels it wouldn't really be a viable charging option at sea.

Or we can look at it another way. Every little bit helps, even if they only can get 15% from solar. 15% of a MW saves 150KWH per day. A ten-day trip can save 1.5 MWH.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Lou Schneider]

Unless that solar field has a few thousand Tesla Power Walls (or whatever) to hold the charge for the night.

Now you're just being ridiculous. Ignoring doubling the battery cost just to time-shift power, the track record of utility scale battery storage is pretty poor. See the Moss Landing Battery Energy Storage System as an example - a history of fire related incidents including two major fires in the last year that required evacuations of the surrounding areas.