Andorra-headquartered AYK Energy has completed the installation and sea trials for the second Brittany Ferries ro-pax which features the largest marine battery yet built.
AYK installed the 12MWh Orion+ battery in Brittany Ferries’ Guillaume de Normandie LNG-hybrid ferry after installing the same battery system aboard its sister ship Saint-Malo at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard Weihai. The vessel has now completed its sea trials and is heading to Britain where it will operate the Portsmouth – Caen route. The recently-delivered Saint-Malo meanwhile is set to operate Portsmouth – St Malo route.
AYK Founder Chris Kruger said: “We would again like to thank Brittany Ferries for giving AYK the opportunity to supply these two highly innovative ferries. This was a huge job for our company and shows how we are maturing as a business. To win the order in April 2024 and deliver the project by early 2025 shows the capability of our team and factory. These two ferries demonstrate how marine battery technology is advancing in energy density, safety and speed of installation. We are further seeing that the cost of battery powered vessels is starting to compete with internal combustion engine ships. This is important if electric batteries are to play a key role in the decarbonisation of shipping and help the industry meet the IMO’s GHG targets.”
Kruger said the vessels will be able to operate on zero emission battery power while entering and exiting port immediately improving air quality and cutting emissions in built up port areas. The vessels are designed to run on LNG, battery-power or a combination of the two. In Portsmouth the ships will further benefit from the installation of plug-in shore power, the only ferry port in the UK currently offering electric shore-to-ship power.
The company believes that with pressure piling onto European ship owners in the form of legislation such as FuelEU and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) due to come into force from 2025, going electric is becoming more attractive.
Kruger continued: “We have supplied what we call a power battery for Brittany Ferries which means it works in combination with fuels like LNG. But we are now seeing that the technology is there to go fully electric, what we call an energy battery. This is the future. And AYK made a significant step forward to making this happen by last month launching a battery called Pisces. This battery has enough energy density to provide full power to larger vessels such as ferries, OSVs, drill rigs and windfarm vessels.”
Kruger is considered one of the founders of marine battery technology, having worked first in the electric car industry before moving to marine. He was involved in development of the battery for the first hybrid propulsion ferry, Princess Benedikte, and the first fully electric ferry, Ampere in 2012. A native South African now based in Andorra he established AYK Energy in 2018 building its first factory in 2023 China to be close to the centre of the battery industry supply chain which he says is 10 years ahead of Europe in China.
Image: Guillaume de Normandie (source: AYK)
