AYK Energy renews batteries for Svitzer hybrid tugs at Gorgon LNG
Asia Excellence sails out flanked by battery-powered tugs (Source: AYK Energy)
AYK Energy has completed a battery replacement project for four Svitzer hybrid tugs operating at Chevron Australia’s Gorgon LNG terminal on Barrow Island, Western Australia. The work marks a return for AYK founder Chris Kruger, who oversaw the original battery installation when the diesel-electric tugs were built in 2012.
The vessels – the Svitzer Euro, Svitzer Perentie, Svitzer Boodie and Svitzer Dugong – have been fitted with new AYK Aires lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, providing a total of more than 5MWh of power, or 1.3MWh per tug. The new batteries, built at AYK’s 5,000-m2 automated plant in Zhuhai, China, are twice as energy-dense as the original systems and can be fully recharged in 90 minutes.
“It is brilliant to be working on these four Svitzer tugs again, which are real trailblazers as some of the first diesel-electric hybrid tugs ever built,” said Kruger. “These new Aires batteries are not only much more powerful, they are safer, cheaper to buy, easier to install and maintain, and they can run for much longer periods.”
AYK, which exhibited at Europort in Rotterdam last week, expects sales to reach 100MWh in 2025 and is planning to expand production with new factories in the US and Europe.
