These floating charging points will let ships draw electricity from offshore wind farms – and could recharge battery-powered vessels of the future

February 20, 2022

These floating charging points will let ships draw electricity from offshore wind farms – and could recharge battery-powered vessels of the future

Shipping giant Maersk has developed an offshore electricity recharging system named Stillstrom.
Stillstrom recharging buoys would connect ships to electricity generated by offshore wind farms.
A pilot Stillstrom buoy will launch off the UK coast in 2022.

The Stillstrom charging buoy is designed to cut emissions from idling ships

Danish shipping firm Maersk Supply Service is to launch an electricity charging system that will give ships access to renewable energy while they're at sea.

The Stillstrom venture comprises a collection of offshore buoys that allow ships to plug into electricity generated by offshore wind farms, as well as onshore power-generation sites. The project aims to cut the use of fuel-burning generators used by ships to power onboard systems while they're anchored or moored.

Sebastian Klasterer Toft, a project manager for Stillstrom, told Insider that Stillstrom was a "natural solution" to the problem of emissions from idling ships. "That was an issue that we saw in our own fleet," he said.

The Stillstrom buoys will source electricity from offshore wind farms

Ships would be able to use the Stillstrom buoys as mooring points and as sources of electricity.

The buoys would be connected by cables to nearby offshore wind farms or onshore electricity-generation sites.

Stillstrom has been under development since 2019. A pilot charging buoy will take to the seas in 2022.

According to Toft, the venture's aim for 2022 is to "prove the concept." It would then aim to install the system at 50 to 100 ports over the next 5 years.

The first Stillstrom buoy is to launch off the coast of the UK in 2022

The pilot buoy is destined for the east coast of the UK, at a wind farm operated by Ørsted, Maersk's partner in the Stillstrom venture.

The buoy will be tested by one of Ørsted's service operations vessels, which will be able to hook up to the buoy and draw electricity from it.

The Stillstrom buoys vary in size but the pilot buoy is about 10 meters in diameter.

Toft said: "The first one is truly a pilot buoy, where we can test everything out and we can also change our components if something doesn't work the way we thought it would work."

The buoys can be located a few miles from their electricity source

The buoys can be located a few miles away from their electricity source.

According to Toft, the buoys would be deployed in the "outer anchor zone" of ports, which is where ships wait before moving into port. Here, Toft said, the buoys would cover the "hotel load" of anchoring ships – the electricity they require to power domestic functions for crew members.

Maersk said the same technology could be used to charge battery-powered and hybrid-electric ships.

The venture is moving faster in ports where shore power is already developed

Toft declined to comment to Insider on the costs involved with Stillstrom but said Maersk was "investing heavily" in the project.

He said the venture would initially focus on locations that shared a "willingness to invest in this kind of technology," and areas where shore power could already be tapped. He pinpointed Europe, America, and parts of Asia.

"This is a global product because shipping is global but we also recognise that right now it is just going faster in some geographies than others," Toft said.

Read the original article on Business Insider