Thermal Energy News

On December 8, 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower addressed the 470th Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. The speech he delivered is often recognized as his effort to introduce “Atoms for Peace”, a program to move nuclear fission and technology away from weapons development and into clean energy.As a result of that effort and program, the NS Savannah was built and delivered as the first nuclear-powered merchant ship. She was built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million and launched on July 21, 1959.

German shipbuilder Meyer Werft announced it has delivered the new environmentally advanced cruise ship Silver Nova to Royal Caribbean's luxury cruise line Silversea Cruises."We are very pleased to once again deliver a ship that will set new standards on the way to climate-neutral cruising. With the propulsion system, a combination of LNG, fuel cell system and batteries, the ship has the best possible measures to reduce emissions," said Jan Meyer, managing director of Meyer Werft.A…

Africa's abundance of solar, wind and thermal energy across the continent can place Africa at the core of the global decarbonization of maritime transport, the IMO conference on Low-Carbon Shipping in Africa heard on May 5.Speaking at the Conference, held in In Mombasa, Kenya, and co-organized with the Kenya Maritime Authority, The Hon. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Minister of Transport, Ghana, said Africa is the key to speeding up global climate action on the Decarbonization Agenda.

The U.S House of Representatives passed the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act (H.R. 4447) aiming to reform U.S. energy policy and authorize significant investment in the transition to greater use of low-carbon energy.The legislation, which addresses a wide range of energy topics and initiatives, includes an amendment by Congressman John Garamendi (D-Calif.) which would enforce Jones Act requirements for all offshore wind development, construction, production and servicing.The amendment clarifies that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act…

Norwegian ferry operator Brevik Fergeselskap has ordered a new electric passenger/ vehicle double-ender ferry from Holland Shipyards in Hardingxveld-Giessendam.The keel laying ceremony of the electric ferry has taken place on Wednesday February 12, 2020 at Holland Shipyards Group.The event was attended by both the board of Brevik Fergeselskap and Holland Shipyards Group. Mr. Bjørge Fredheim from Brevik Fergeselskap had the honor of welding a part of the section.After a joint engineering process, the ceremony signifies the start of the actual building phase of the project.The vessel, the first fully electric ferry for Brevik Fergeselskap, will operate within the waters of Eidangerfjorden. The ferry service connects Brevik with Sandøya and Bjørkøya.

The Port of Antwerp has inaugurated the first Concentrated Solar Thermal farm (CST) in Europe as part of its efforts to make its operations more eco- friendly.The pioneering energy technology generates eco-friendly heat from concentrated sunlight that can be used by industrial companies, claimed a press release from Europe’s second-largest seaport. The plant was installed for Adpo by the Genk-based energy company Azteq as part of a pilot project co-financed by the Flemish government.Industrial companies normally obtain heat for their processes from combustion of fossil fuels such as natural gas. Concentrated Solar Thermal energy (CST) is an innovative technology in which sunlight is concentrated by parabolic mirrors and so converted directly to heat.

The National University of Singapore's Faculty of Engineering (NUS), Singapore LNG Corporation (SLNG) and Keppel Data Centers Holdings join forces to develop new energy-efficient cooling technology for data centers.This innovation could further pave the way for more sustainable and compact data centers, said Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corporation.With the rapid expansion of cloud-based services, AI, the Internet of Things and big data analytics, there has been an exponential demand across the globe for data centers in recent years. As the leading data center hub of Southeast Asia, Singapore accounted for around 50 per cent of the region's data center capacity in 2015.Due to the high internal load and the need for consistent cooling and operation in a tightly-controlled environment…

The global provider of marine coatings Jotun and Japanese coating supplier NOF Kansai Paint have signed an agreement to develop their existing alliance. The partners are now looking to emulate the success they’ve achieved in the Marine segment in the Protective Market.Jotun and Kansai Marine Coatings signed an agreement forming the SeaStar Alliance in 2002, at this time, they had already worked together for many years and the alliance was a development inherent in that long co-operation.The partnership has led to the development of antifouling brands such as SeaQuantum, which is now the world leader in antifouling based on Silyl technology.

European electric utility company Électricité de France (EDF) group has sold its stake in the Dunkirk  liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, after obtained the requisite regulatory approvals.According to a press release from the  integrated energy company the modalities set out in the press release published on 29 June remain unchanged, the transaction having been made on the basis of an average enterprise value of EUR2.4 billion for the Dunkerque LNG company.The disposal will contribute to the reduction of the EDF Group’s net financial debt, by EUR1.5 billion.With the transaction, the Group has now realised EUR9.6 billion of its targeted EUR10 billion asset disposal plan.

Rolls-Royce has launched the next generation of its Energy Management (EM) System. The system will allow customers to reduce energy usage, fuel consumption and operating costs whilst supporting environmental compliance and providing performance information that enables the ship to comply with SEEMP rules and IMO regulations. The Energy Management System offers customers a more data-driven performance management and decision making approach. This will give an enhanced ability to monitor the performance of an individual vessel or a fleet.

Bureau Veritas has published a set of guidelines, NI 631 “Certification Scheme for Marine Renewable Energy Technologies”, addressing a broad spectrum of the needs of marine renewable energy (MRE) businesses and projects. ‘The marine renewables sector is growing in importance and the complexities are increasing as the sector continues to mature’, comments Matthieu de Tugny, Senior Vice President, Offshore, Bureau Veritas. ‘Bureau Veritas is taking a broad leadership position in the development of cleaner energy projects and technologies in the marine and offshore environments.

Interferry has unveiled a strategic plan promising to put safety issues at the heart of its work as the voice of the worldwide ferry industry. The pledge came at the global trade association’s 41st annual conference in Manila – a venue chosen to spotlight the challenges of domestic ferry safety in developing nations. According to Interferry, the plan signals its overriding ambition to help lift ferry safety in all parts of the world to the very high standard already in place in North America and Europe, where casualties in recent decades have been extremely rare.

On March 1, Jan Dieleman assumed the leadership of Cargill’s Ocean Transportation business with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Dieleman took over the position of Roger Janson who has managed the business successfully since 2011 and now heads Cargill’s Agricultural Supply Chain enterprise in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Dieleman is moving to the position after leading Cargill’s North America Power and Gas business since 2014. After joining the company in 1999, he has gained his expertise working in various roles in grain products and freight trading as well as thermal energy. Cargill’s North America Power and Gas business will be led by Mike Newman who takes over the role of Dieleman.

Despite historic lows in traditional oil and gas energy markets, research and develoment continues in earnest on a number of projects designed to produce green energy. The latest, an Ocean Thermal Energy Converter (OTEC) from KRISO, received Approval in Principle from classification society Bureau Veritas. KRISO (Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean engineering), established in 1973, is a government-funded research institute in the Republic of Korea and the leader in technology development in ships and ocean engineering.

Engineers from Calnetix Technologies will present at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) 2015 Conference in Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 12-14. Controls and Systems Engineer Chris Sellers will give a paper, co-authored by Director of Systems Engineering Parsa Mirmobin, entitled “Advanced Controls of Organic Rankine Cycle for Highly Transient Fluctuations during Initial Startup” in Session 9: Heat Exchangers, on Tuesday at 9:40 a.m. Development Engineer Errol Yuksek will deliver a paper on “Waste Heat Utilization of Main Propulsion Engine Jacket Water in Marine Application,” also co-authored by Mirmobin, in Session 13: Waste Heat Recovery from Engines II, on Tuesday at 3:20 p.m.

When one thinks of offshore renewable energy, one usually thinks of offshore wind. For the first time progress is being made in the U.S. to develop offshore wind resources. The first steel foundation jacket has been placed in the ocean floor to support the Deepwater Wind project off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. (See www.dwwind.com/press/#/1). But recently, progress is also being made in the development of tidal and wave energy resources closer to shore, which are known as marine hydrokinetic or MHK resources.

Calnetix Technologies, LLC has published a White Paper describing new processes for producing supplemental power for a ship’s electrical load. The White Paper, entitled New-Technology Shipboard System Converts Heat from Engine Jacket Water into Electrical Power, is available for free download. Calnetix, working in close cooperation with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Machinery and Engine Company (MHI-MME), has developed a system called Hydrocurrent, which uses an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) heat transfer process and a patented turbo-generator power system to convert thermal energy from heat in the engine’s jacket water into mechanical power to generate electricity.

Keppel Seghers Belgium N.V. and Keppel Seghers UK Limited (collectively, Keppel Seghers) have handed over Phase 2 of the Runcorn Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facility, in the UK, to the client. Runcorn EfW comprises two phases of equal capacity. Phase 1 is owned by INEOS Runcorn (TPS) Limited (TPSCo), a joint venture between INEOS, Viridor and John Laing. Phase 2 is owned by Viridor EfW (Runcorn) Limited, a special purpose vehicle owned by Viridor Waste Management Limited. Keppel Seghers handed over Phase 2 to the client on 24 April 2015 after successfully completing a 30-day reliability test. Earlier this year on 18 January 2015, Phase 1 was completed and was handed over. Both phases are operated by Viridor.

Terragon Environmental Technologies Inc., a developer of waste-to-resource technology solutions, has entered into a strategic partnership with Green Marine Capital (GMC). Terragon CEO and Co-founder Dr. Panayotis Tsantrizos said the partnership will allow the company to commercialize its products in the marine sector. Terragon’s first commercially available product, the Micro Auto Gasification System (MAGS), is designed to convert each kilogram of organic waste generated by a habitat into 2kWh of thermal energy by using gasification technology the company says is clean and simple to operate.

Barzan, the first in a series of six 18,800 TEU container vessels ordered by UASC, was recently named at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) in Mokpo, South Korea. The vessel is the first to receive classification society DNV GL’s new GAS READY notation. Her five sister ships, as well as eleven 15,000 TEU vessels of UASC’s newest eco-ship generation, will be given the GAS READY notation as well. “We are proud to help realise the world’s greenest ultra-large container vessel in close cooperation with UASC,” said Henrik O. Madsen, Group President and CEO of DNV GL. “Due to the trust placed in our expertise on alternative fuels, we implemented the ‘LNG ready’ concept with UASC as an industry first…

The use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as a transportation fuel for ships, barges and ferries has surged in recent months. This surge is due, in large part, to the boon in the production of natural gas in the U.S.; new low sulfur rules for the North American Emission Control Area (ECA), which go into effect on January 1, 2015; and new technologies for the construction of engines capable of running on LNG. Regulatory regimes both in the U.S. and worldwide are struggling to keep pace with the tremendous growth of LNG as a fuel.

Terragon Environmental Technologies Inc. has entered into a strategic partnership with Green Marine Capital (GMC) in an effort to enable off grid sustainability by developing and commercializing simple compact and economical products that allow any habitat to convert its waste into useful resources, such as energy and clean water, Terragon said. Terragon’s first commercially available product, the patented Micro Auto Gasification System (MAGS), converts each kilogram of waste generated by a habitat into 2kWh of thermal energy. A second product, the Wastewater Electrochemical treatment Technology (WETT), converts sewage into clean water that can be used for many utilities. Combined, MAGS and WETT can eliminate waste discharge from any habitat while reducing its need for energy and water.

ARENA has invested $1 billion in more than 230 projects, fellowships and scholarships that are paving the way for a more diverse energy future for Australia. Thirty one of these projects have now been completed, with many more scheduled to reach key milestones and/or completion in 2015. Each of these projects is producing valuable knowledge and outcomes that are being shared with the energy industry to help overcome challenges and advance renewable energy in Australia. For example, the South Australian Centre for Geothermal Energy Research’s project has produced a reliable tool for accurate, pre-drilling predictions of geothermal energy reservoir characteristics. This could lead to a significant improvement in geothermal energy exploration and development.