Zephyrus Marine has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japanese shipyard Mirai Ships to build the Zephyrus Zero Carbon Offshore wind service vessel.
Ad Hoc Marine Designs Ltd. (Ad Hoc) will be providing the design for the zero-emission Crew Transfer Vessel (“CTV”), which will incorporate Shift Clean Energy's PwrSwäp technology.
The class NK-approved energy storage system will allow crew transfer vessels to swap their modular battery systems with ease while providing a zero-emission service to the Japanese offshore wind sector, Zephyrus Marine said.
The design of the Zephyrus Zero Carbon Offshore wind service operation will be tailored to service Japanese wind and offshore vessels specifically.
"With Japanese waters known for the rough seas all year around, it was a natural fit to use Ad Hoc’s SWATH CTVs, which are tailor designed to withstand such harsh annual conditions, Zephyrus said.
According to available information, Japan plans to install up to 45 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2040.
The fully electric Mothership will operate as the hotel and charging station with fully electric daughter vessels that will either be stowed on deck or returned to shore for near-shore operations. These daughter vessels will be lifted off the Mothership and launched into the field. When the charge is low, these CTVs will return to the Mothership to dock at the stern, allowing for the spent batteries (“e-pods”) to be lifted and replaced with fully charged ones within minutes.
Rob Stewart, Director at Zephyrus said, “We need to make it easy for shipowners and the offshore wind sector to go zero carbon. By partnering with Mirai Ships in building our unique solution, we can move the needle towards a net-zero shipping industry and we can do so while improving the operational cost and reducing the risk profiles within the offshore Japanese wind sector.”
The Zephyrus Zero Carbon Offshore wind service operation will utilize Shift’s PwrSwäp technology - a pay-as-you-go energy subscription service that the company says delivers "instant renewable, clean energy to vessels without risk."
As a result, Zephyrus said, vessels can utilize only the energy they need without committing to a fixed energy storage system.
"The technology is rooted in a network of swappable battery e-Pods and containers which are connected through cloud-based service and management centers. Not only does PwrSwäp reduce emissions and costs, it saves time. Unlike traditional refueling which can take hours, it takes between 3-15 minutes to swap modular batteries. This addition will facilitate the transition of Japanese wind and offshore vessels to hybrid or fully electric," Zephyrus said.