Corvus Energy has introduced a standardized ISO footprint, containerized battery room solution, the Corvus BOB, which the company says provides maximum flexibility for battery-on-board (BOB) vessel applications.
The BOB is a standardized, class-approved, modular battery room solution available in 3m and 6m ISO high-cube container sizes. The complete energy storage system (ESS) comes with battery modules, battery monitoring system (BMS), cooling, TR exhaust, and firefighting and detection system. According to Corvus, its “plug-and-play battery room” simplifies integration into any system integrator’s power management system on board a ship.
Although Corvus started work on a container concept back in 2016, energy company Shell has been the major driving force behind a push toward modular and standardized thinking. The energy major believes that owners and operators of many vessel types will benefit significantly from the flexibility offered by a modular, containerized battery system.
“Batteries are going to be on board as the industry decarbonizes, regardless of which fuels are used now or in the future,” said Bo Jardine, Shell’s global category manager – marine, responsible for chartering offshore support vessels (OSVs). “The benefit of a containerized battery system is that you can add more containers if additional capacity is needed, or move containers to another vessel in your fleet for charter contracts or operational requirements.
“It is easy to exchange the ESS when new technology is available and take the ESS off for a second life onshore,” Jardine continued. “Up-front builders’ risk in the shipyard is reduced via the ability to pre-test and assure the battery solution before integration into a vessel. Furthermore, costly rework to the vessel is avoided and turnaround to change battery capacity is faster.”
Corvus also hopes that its BOB will provide a supporting gateway for the integration of future fuels technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells into vessels.
“The Corvus BOB is a flexible, cost-effective energy storage solution that reduces complexity and risk for the system integrator, shipowners and design companies,” noted Ronald Hansen, SVP ship solutions at Corvus Energy and project lead. “With the Corvus BOB, they get a fully approved standalone battery room without having to spend time on the configuration inside. The BOB is suitable for both retrofits and new-builds, and we are confident that the solution will enhance project planning and schedules in addition to saving time and cost for transportation, installation and commissioning.
“Being a fully scalable ESS with a standard ISO footprint also makes it an ideal solution for projects where increased capacity is needed,” added Hansen. “We will continue working closely with all integrators to provide them with the best possible solutions.”
The first Corvus BOB system will incorporate the Corvus Orca ESS – a battery system suitable for a wide range of vessels including offshore vessels, cruise and ferries, merchant vessels, workboats and fishing vessels. The system will be DNV-GL type approved.