EMP Inks Deal to Supply Aquarius MAS
Marine grade solar panel and frame at Teramoto Iron Works, Onomichi, Japan (Photo: EMP)
UB-50-12 batteries manufactured by The Furukawa Battery Company (Photo: EMP)
Eco Marine Power (EMP) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a Singapore based shipping company to supply its Aquarius Management and Automation (MAS) + Solar solution. The solution will also include hardware and software that will allow ships to monitor fuel oil consumption in real time, automatically calculate NOx/SOx/CO2 emissions and interface with marine solar power systems. Initially one ship in the fleet will be installed with the Aquarius MAS + Solar solution and its performance jointly evaluated.
The Aquarius Management and Automation System or Aquarius MAS is a fuel oil consumption monitoring, alarm handling and data logging platform suitable for a wide range of ships. The system is based upon the KEI 3240 Data Logger which is already in use on hundreds of vessels including tug boats, training ships, tankers and bulk ore carriers. A marine solar power solution from EMP is an integrated class-accepted system that may include a marine computer, battery chargers, batteries, marine-grade solar panels plus interfaces to other equipment and sensors. Each solution can be designed and scaled to suit a wide variety of ships including passenger ferries, cruise ships, tankers, bulk ore carriers, offshore support vessels and offshore platforms such as oil rigs and jack-up platforms.
For the first time marine grade solar panel mounting frames designed and manufactured by Teramoto Iron Works of Onomichi, Japan, will be used and supplied as a kit. This will simplify installation and enable the panels to be removed if necessary for deck maintenance. Teramoto Iron Works will also manufacture and supply the mounting frame for the battery pack.
ClassNK approved UB-50-12 Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) batteries will be supplied by the Furukawa Battery Company of Yokohama, Japan – the first time ever that these batteries have been used for a marine solar power project. The Ultra Battery (UB) series are particularly suited to renewable energy applications on ships and their relatively small size allows them to be installed easily in existing equipment spaces.
Commenting on the MOU, Yasuhiro Kodaka, General Manager at The Furukawa Battery Company, said, “This is an important step forward for our company and we are pleased that Eco Marine Power selected our batteries for this important project. Our recently developed Ultra Battery series are safe, reliable and recyclable plus have performance characteristics comparable to lithium-ion batteries.”
Yoshitaka Teramoto, President, Teramoto Iron Works stated, “We are honored to be part of this project and it will enable us to showcase our range of specialized products for marine and offshore solar power applications.”
Greg Atkinson, Chief Technology Officer at Eco Marine Power, added, “It is pleasing after years of research and development that our efforts are gaining further recognition across the shipping sector and that marine solar power is now being viewed as a viable source of emissions-free power on ships.”
