The World's Largest Hybrid Ship Now Delivered in Norway

Shipping contributes to high levels of carbon emissions. The arrival of hybrid vessels is an important step in mitigating maritime carbon pollution. It was with some pleasure I noted this week that Norwegian shipbuilder Ulstein Verft has delivered "Color Hybrid," the world’s largest plug-in hybrid ship, to compatriot cruise and ferry company Color Line.

I quote from Maritime News: "As explained, Color Hybrid introduces new solutions to reduce noise and emissions and would provide increased capacity on the route between Norway and Sweden. The vessel is a plug-in hybrid, where the five-megawatt batteries can be charged with environmentally friendly power from shore power in Sandefjord. It will go silently in and out of the fjord of Sandefjord without emissions of harmful environmental gases, or nitrogen and sulfur compounds to air in the area. The battery pack weighs 65 tons and can be recharged in one hour. The ship also has a heat reservoir of five megawatts which utilizes heat from both the wake and the exhaust for heating. This, together with an optimal hull construction, helps to make the vessel energy efficient and environmentally friendly."

With a length of 160 meters and a beam of 27.1 meters, the newbuild is able to accommodate 2,000 passengers and 500 cars. Postponed from July 26 to August 9, Color Hybrid’s maiden voyage will be from Sandefjord to Str?mstad. The video below gives you a good view of this innovative craft.

In order to charge the batteries, a rapid charging facility was set up at the quay in Sandefjord. “The construction of the world’s largest plug-in hybrid ship is in line with the company’s ambition to develop sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions for Norwegian shipping,” said Trond Kleivdal, CEO of Color Line. The ship’s footprint was also taken into account during construction: Over 70 per cent of the suppliers come from Norway.

The new hybrid ship shows how electrification on the water is picking up speed. Smaller boats have been equipped with electric propulsion for some time, but now the electric propulsion also reaches larger ships: Nidec had recently presented a serial hybrid drive for a luxury yacht, Danfoss Edistron electrified a car ferry and the Swedish port of Lule? has put hybrid tugboats into operation while in Denmark the world’s most powerful electric ferry will soon be in operation.

The hybridisation of maritime vessels, trains and heavy good vehicles omens well for the contribution being made by the transport sector to mitigate climate change, Both Hydrogen and lithium ion batteries will play their part in the hybridisation of transport hardware, but there is a big problem.

The grid, even in Norway, is not equipped to handle the phase imbalances, voltage spikes and deviant harmonics caused by all these new bits of kit nestling up to the grid. Norway has 55% EV penetration. Ground source heat pumps, PV on roofs and in commercial mega arrays all stress sub-stations and the grid to the point of failure. At times, energy loss on the Norwegian grid can approach 70%. In Edinburgh a power sub-station blew up right next to Holyrood, the Parliament of Scotland, while in New York there was a massive power failure interrupting high profile concerts in Madison Square. The need for grid stability is now ubiquitous. Government planning has failed to take infrastructure and phase imbalance into their forward planning. It's all fine to imagine smart highways, MaaS and CAV solutions but without the infrastrcuture to support all these innovations the game is a bogey.

But good news is around the corner, again emanating from Norway. A new Norwegian start-up has an electro-magnetic solution to all of this electric mayhem. I will reveal all very shortly, but do pm me for more if this is your area of focus. Never let it be said that "We can't". We can!