Partners in JDP to assess electric LNG carrier design
The LNG carrier vessel design will be optimised around a compact, electrified, integrated, and efficient propulsion power system that will lead to a significant reduction in CO₂ emissions (Source: Wärtsilä Corporation)
China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (HZS), Wärtsilä and ABS are to work together in a joint development project (JDP) to assess scope for the design of a flexible and future-ready electric LNG carrier. In a statement, the partners said that the flexible vessel will be optimised around a compact, electrified and integrated engine that will provide immediate carbon savings. It will be capable of incorporating new technologies as they become available to stay ahead of the carbon intensity indicator (CII) requirements.
Stefan Nysjö, vice president, Power Supply, at Wärtsilä Marine Power, said: “The modular and hybridised nature of this smart propulsion system provides the correct foundation for the introduction of new and potentially highly intermittent low-carbon energy sources and energy-saving devices both in the newbuild phase and also later as potential retrofit solutions.”
The shipbuilder’s deputy director of Research and Development, Song Wei, revealed that the vessel’s power system will operate at the highest efficiency levels at all times, using flexible sources of power to adapt to changing load demands.
The classification society’s senior vice president, Global Engineering and Technology, Patrick Ryan, stressed the need for vessels to be capable of constant improvement as CII requirements tighten. “Advanced multi-physics modelling and simulation techniques enable development of a vessel with a strong CII profile at launch that is also equipped to take advantage of future decarbonisation technologies as they mature,” he said.
