Norwegian company Eidesvik Offshore, which owns and operates a worldwide fleet of purpose-built vessels that provide services to the offshore supply, subsea, offshore wind and seismic markets, has upgraded its Acergy Viking vessel to hybrid propulsion. The company notes that this means three-quarters of its fleet will operate with hybrid battery propulsion by the first half of 2022.
Eidesvik says that its ambition is to reduce its fleet’s emissions by 50% by 2030 and to operate emission-free by 2050. The decision to upgrade the offshore wind vessel MV Acergy Viking with a battery pack and hybrid propulsion solution takes the company another step toward this goal.
The conversion of the 14-year-old vessel will be completed in the first quarter of 2022. With hybrid propulsion, the ship is expected to reduce diesel consumption (MGO) by up to 350 tons per year, with a corresponding reduction in CO2 emissions of more than 1,000 tons per year.
“Eidesvik took an active role in the development of a battery solution for ships in 2006,” said Jan Fredrik Meling, CEO of Eidesvik Offshore ASA. “This solution was later installed on board MV Viking Lady, making her the first offshore supply ship in the world with a battery on board. At an early stage, hybrid solutions were mainly installed on board our supply vessels, but Eidesvik was also early with similar environmental upgrades on several of our subsea vessels. We are now particularly pleased to introduce hybrid propulsion on one of our vessels with assignments within offshore wind and renewable energy.”
The contract for Acergy Viking to service offshore wind facilities for Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy was recently extended until 2027, with the operator stating that both Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Enova SF were important partners in realizing the hybridization of the ship.