Power & Propulsion
Exploring Green Power & Propulsion in the SOV Sector
As the offshore wind industry grows, so too does the number of purpose-built SOVs and CSOVs needed to support this clean energy sector. Siemens Energy’s Trygve Øi Akselsen and Intelatus Global Partners’ Philip Lewis discuss how evolving technologies are helping to drive performance and efficiency gains across the global fleet.
By Eric Haun
Offshore wind is billed as part of the “energy transition”, a movement toward greener forms of energy production as a means to limit climate change. In this context, the shift to greener power and propulsion systems aboard vessels serving the offshore wind industry seems only natural. If the goal is to shift to cleaner energy, then the players involved in building and servicing offshore wind farms should also be aiming to shrink their environmental footprint.
Philip Lewis, director of research at business intelligence and consulting firm Intelatus Global Partners, said there is an “optics” element in offshore wind, where developers want to keep their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions low, and noted that most publicly listed companies are even required to record and report emissions—both of which are among factors driving a need for lower or zero emission vessels, including service operation vessels (SOV) and commissioning service operation vessels (CSOV).
Other hard drivers exist as well. “There are more and more financial institutions that don't want to lend to vessels involved in oil and gas operations, but are involved in offshore wind operations because that helps their emissions reporting, saying, ‘Our portfolio is a low emissions portfolio,’” Lewis said. “I wouldn't disregard the finance and insurance aspect given how much money vessel operators spend on financing and insurance. It's a very big driver.”
Importantly, going green can come with cost benefits, where shifts to more efficient, cleaner-burning technologies can drive down costs for vessel operations.
In the world of SOVs and CSOVs¬, these technologies are being leveraged today. One firm helping to lead the way in the technology realm is Siemens Energy, whose offering includes a host of options—from power, automation and control systems to electric propulsion and drives—that help vessel operators to drive down both costs and emissions.
“Our solutions—which we are proud of—are green. We have a big setup when it comes to the electrification of vessels, [including] batteries,” said Trygve Øi Akselsen, VP and global head of sales operations for maritime and offshore at Siemens Energy. “The advantages of having a ship with a machine room electrified is that you can have a more efficient use of the energy, you use less energy and you also actually add operational capacity.”
There are currently around 50 SOVs and CSOVs under construction and on order today, Lewis said, and nearly all have electric drivetrains, many with battery energy storage systems (ESS).
Siemens Energy has a long history of delivering diesel-electric marine propulsion systems that reduce fuel requirements and environmental risks while increasing efficiency and maneuverability. Today, the company is leveraging its innovation experience and lessons learned from other sectors, such as the Norwegian electrical ferry market and offshore oil and gas, to help guide its work onboard modern SOVs.
But a number of challenges remain. “There are some barriers to green technology,” Akselsen said. “The technology cost very often is one of these barriers.”
While many “green” technologies can reduce OpEx costs in the long-run through efficiency gains, the upfront CapEx costs required to implement them are typically higher, making their adoption more difficult—especially in a market like offshore wind, which faces its own set of economic challenges.
According to Akselsen, one of the lessons learned in the ferry industry is that regulators must create “even ground” for green technologies to compete against brown. As has been done in the Norwegian ferry sector, a move to require green propulsion coupled with a shift to longer term contracts can help pave the way for increased uptake of green tech in the SOV market, Akselsen said.
Policy makers are also implementing carbon pricing as a means to drive industries to reduce emissions. “We expect to see wider rollouts of carbon pricing globally, that price carbon [emissions] from diesel engines,” Lewis added. “The more and more that [emissions are] priced, the more and more you are incentivized to find something that is cost-competitive.”
“We have available technology, and we see the continued momentum toward electrification and alternative fuels,” Akselsen said. “In the SOV segment, we see that the regulatory pressure and the industry is still trending toward decarbonization.”
In the below episode of Maritime Matters: The MarineLink Podcast, Akselsen and Lewis dive deeper into the drive to decarbonize within the SOV/CSOV market, discussing technology trends and drivers, challenges and opportunities.
