Great Ships of 2014: Linda Oldendorff

Norwegian ferry operator Norled  AS  received the battery-driven car ferry ZeroCat 120, an aluminum catamaran which is light-weight with slender twin hulls. Its electric power train was designed by Norway’s Fjellstrand shipyard with battery technology from Germany’s Siemens. The ZeroCat 120 does not discharge greenhouse gases, CO2, methane or nitrogen oxides to the environment. In addition to the environmental benefits, the ferry’s operational and maintenance costs will be lower than those of a conventional ferry. Norled will operate the world’s first battery-driven ferry on the   Lavik-Oppedal route in south-west Norway. The 265 ft. (80.8 m)-long vessel will be able to carry 120 cars and 350 passengers across the Sognefjord.  It will run 34 times each day, with a crossing time of 20 minutes. Time at port is 10 minutes, during which the 1-MWh lithium-polymer battery pack on board will be fully charged. This amount of electric power delivered in such a short time is far beyond the capacity of the electrical grid serving the villages of Lavik and Oppedal.  The  solution  is  to  install  battery  buffers  at  both  ports  that  can be continuously charged from the grid with 250 kW, then rapidly provide a quick dump to the ferry’s batteries.
 

(As published in the December 2014 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeReporter)