Nexus Energy: PowerPack for Van Oord fully electric dredging pilot

Nexus Energy has recently supplied its PowerPack to a pilot project taking place in the seaport of Dordrecht.

During the project, Van Oord, in cooperation with ZEDHub, Smart Delta Drechtsteden, the Municipality of Dordrecht and Port of Rotterdam, assessed the potential of a fully electric dredging operation. Also during the test, Paans Van Oord demonstrated the operation of its fully electric crane vessel, Christiaan P.

The vessel has been retrofitted for increased efficiency. This involved having its engines replaced with electric motors and crane replaced with an electric model.

For the pilot project, the vessel was outfitted with mobile battery systems of 870kWh.

Additionally, the Nexus plug and play PowerPack was installed. This hydrogen powered pack provides the means to charge the batteries, with zero emissions, in the absence of shore power, and even while the vessel is in operation.

During the pilot project, Van Oord carried out various measurements, such as energy consumption when sailing at different speeds and during light and heavy dredging operations, in order to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of electric dredging.

In addition, testing was done on how the batteries are charged via shore power and the ship’s own generator.

Research was also conducted into whether the batteries can be continuously charged during operation using hydrogen.