Kongsberg Maritime has partnered with Leclanché, an energy storage solution company, to provide batteries and energy storage solutions to the marine industry.
Leclanché’s batteries will be integrated into Kongsberg’s hybrid solutions. Leclanché will deliver battery systems for 9 vessels totalling 45MWh.
The first project to be jointly executed will be Yara Birkeland, the world’s first autonomous and electric container vessel. The Yara Birkeland will replace 40,000 truck journeys a year and eliminate nitrogen oxides (NOx) and CO2 emissions, as well as improving road safety and elimating noise and dust emissions caused by trucks.
The second project will see a hybrid propulsion system delivered by Kongsberg, with Leclanché battery systems, fitted to Grimaldi Green 5th Generation (GG5G) Ro-Pax vessels. The GG5Gs will be the first in a new series of hybrid vessels using fossil fuel during navigation, with batteries providing a peak-shaving function and electricity in port.
Frode Kaland, EVP supply chain for Kongsberg Maritime said: “Leclanché’s ability to cover the complete value chain from design and production of lithium cells in Europe, to full battery systems certified for marine applications together with our proprietary hybrid power technology positions us together as a single, unified supplier of electrification solutions that will deliver lower operational expenditure and enable environmental sustainability for all vessel types”.
Anil Srivastava, CEO of Leclanché said: “Leclanché’s focus on maritime is an essential component of our focus on the electrification of fleets and maritime is ideally suited to both our superior battery systems and our partnership approach to deliver emissions busting solutions. We are seeing a paradigm shift in the maritime industry towards electric power and partnerships with world class industry leaders such as KONGSBERG further demonstrate that Leclanché’s opportunity is now.”
The battery systems will be built at Leclanché’s facility in Switzerland with the cells manufactured at Leclanché’s Willstätt facility in Germany.
