New modular electrical
architecture & digital
platform to optimise large
battery systems on ships

NEMOSHIP is an Innovation Action (IA) project awarded under the Horizon Europe programme. The project started in early 2023 and has a 4 years duration.

The ambition of NEMOSHIP is to develop, test, demonstrate new innovative technologies, methodologies and guidelines to better optimise large electric battery power technology within hybrid and fully electrical ships.

CONTEXT

Member States of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted  during the summer 2023 the IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships, with enhanced targets to tackle harmful emissions.
The revised strategy includes an enhanced common ambition to reach net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping close to 2050, a commitment to ensure an uptake of alternative zero and near-zero GHG fuels by 2030, as well as indicative check-points for 2030 and 2040. More information is available on the IMO website.
Moreover, the co-programmed Partnership on Zero-Emission Waterborne Transport (ZEWT) is a Partnership in the framework of  Horizon Europe. The Partnership aims to provide and demonstrate zero-emission solutions for all main ship types and services before 2030, which will enable zero-emission waterborne transport before 2050. Call topics are developed based on expert input and public consultations undertaken by the Waterborne TP. The research call topics are announced annually by the European Commission. NEMOSHIP was awarded under one of these call topics, namely “Exploiting electrical energy storage systems and better optimising large battery electric power within fully battery electric and hybrid ships“.
Electrification and electrical energy storage systems will be paramount, not only as a stand-alone system in full electric ships, but also as an enabler for all other technologies facilitating hybrid electric ships. 

Challenges

The NEMOSHIP consortium have identified five main challenges in relation to the call topic:
  1. Ensure the safety and knowledge of the crew during installation and exploitation of large batteries
  2. Standardise installation and integration solutions within a wide range of ships and electrical grids (AC and DC)
  3. Reach a competitive Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) compared to conventional fossil-based solutions
  4. Improve the operational benefits of batteries while ensuring longer zero emission sailing
  5. Upskill shipowners and operators in best decision making and operation

Objectives

The NEMOSHIP consortium has identified four specific objectives concurring to the overall project ambition:

This first objective is to prove the technical feasibility of a modular Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) enabling to exploit heterogeneous storage units to better address the needs of different operational profiles and ship types, as well as retrofitting/evolution constraints (notably hybridisation with high power and high energy storage units). It will need a dedicated power conversion architecture to take advantage of an individual control of each storage unit thanks to a dedicated power management system (so called BPMS for Battery Power Management System).

Related KPIs:

  • Limit the number of system components while using off-the-shelf ones (battery and power conversion modules)
  • Widen the grid services provided by large battery systems (from zero emission mission to grid stability)
  • For a same need, decrease CAPEX thanks to hybridisation (around 20% to be specified according to the use case)
  • Improve battery lifetime thanks to power balancing strategies (around 20% to be specified according to the use case)

Outcome 1: Development and validation of a 1.5 MWh modular BESS and its BPMS for a retrofitted hybrid vessel

A containerised 1 MWh modular BESS will be developed to retrofit a diesel/electric Offshore Service Vessel (OSV) from Solstad, where a 500 kWh BESS was already installed in 2018. The solution will integrate a new power conversion architecture enabling hybridisation of different storage units with different characteristics (chemistry and/or c-rate) and costs with a design and sizing fitting with operational profiles of the demonstration vessel. It will allow to assign different storage units according to the power demand and to optimise the sizing of each unit according to its use. A dedicated BMPS and advanced algorithms will prove improvements in energy efficiency and lifetime by optimising the charging and power balancing between the different units according to load demand and their states (mainly state of charge and health). This will contribute to the improvement of the response to grid power demands and services provide by large BESSs while optimally used for what they were designed.

 

Going from a traditional reading of a lot of documentation to a highly automated integration process of battery systems will minimise the time needed and the risk of errors and incidents. The objective is thus to go toward a standardisation of the battery system interfaces with the vessels as well as of regulations and applications rules. This includes physical interfaces (electrical connection, thermal management, overall easements and auxiliaries) and numerical interfaces / communications between onboard management systems that currently need a lot of custom developments (from Battery Management System (BMS) to vessel Power Management System (PMS)). This should be achieved by providing a clear methodology and a justification for the proposed solutions, in particular to assess the impact on safety and the need for upskill the crew.

Related KPIs:

  • Decrease BESS installation costs around 40%.
  • Contribute in LTI (Lost Time Incident / Injuries) reduction toward zero
  • Increase the operational maintenance capability of the crew members

Outcome 2: Provide integration methodologies and standards thanks to a Formal Safety Assessment

NEMOSHIP will build on significant past experiences of partners in installation of battery systems on commercially operating vessels, and notably more than 500 units for Corvus, and existing ZEWT projects (LC-BAT-11 successful projects for standardised regulatory requirements between certification bodies across Europe) to define best practices improving the integration process on-board. Taking advantages of the modular BESS concept, it will suggest standard interfaces to facilitate combination of technologies within the vessel grid while limiting dependency from suppliers and long/costly integration process, with a long-term perspective to transfer those methodologies and standards to other ship types. A comprehensive and improved installation plan will be defined for the Solstad demonstration vessel and validated by all partners with regard to standardisation and transferability. Guidelines for Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) defined by the IMO3 will be applied as a structured and systematic methodology to enhance safety by using risk analysis and cost-benefit assessment. It will help in evaluating new regulations and proposed changes with existing standards to policy makers. It will provide clear instructions for the crew and will contribute to the analysis of the evolution of their skills.

The objective is to go further in the exploitation of a large amount of data related to the battery systems and electrical grid operation via the use of digital twins, cloud computing and advanced algorithms that will send relevant indicators to software and improve offline and online decision support (respectively for shipowners and operators). The proposed solutions will improve methods and tools to select the best arrangement between different ESS technologies and chemistries adapted to a specific use case, better plan maintenance and investment, guide operators in an efficient, safe, and green exploitation of battery systems on-board, propose an interactive training program.

Related KPIs:

  • Interface with existing software used by shipowners and operators
  • For a same size, improve global efficiency of ESS exploitation of above 10%
  • Decrease maintenance occurrences
  • Contribute in LTI (Lost Time Incident / Injuries) reduction toward zero
  • Increase number of crew members trained in exploitation of battery systems

Outcome 3: Development and validation of a cloud-based digital platform enabling a data-driven exploitation

NEMOSHIP will deploy a digital platform taking advantage of the large amount of data coming from previously installed BESS and above all from both Solstad and Ponant demonstration vessels throughout the four years of the project. It will implement a secured cloud infrastructure enabling bidirectional data exchanges with the ships and as much as possible with existing software. It will gather three different layers: A virtual layer composed of digital twins and an iterative co-design and optimisation process integrating the exploitation constraints. A main improvement will be to extend the use and tuning of models from the design to the exploitation of ESS and electrical architecture for a large variety of ship types. An online operating layer composed of Model- and IA-based algorithms providing relevant indicators to software for ship operators. It will guide for a better energy management (for example in choosing the best hybrid operation mode or zero emission mode) and for safety management (taking into account state of health of battery modules). (iii) An offline operating layer providing relevant data to shipowners to evaluate the global performances of ESS (for example GHG emissions reduction), capitalise and improve the installation experiences and to better plan investment and system maintenance thanks to predictive algorithms. The digital platform will be implemented for both Solstad and Ponant vessels to demonstrate and validate the improvement thanks to an iterative design process and a four-year exploitation and test program on both vessels. An interactive training program will be also evaluated to put operators in different situations / use profiles via the virtual layer and digital twins.

This last objective is to prove the applicability and maturity of proposed solutions to several ship types and operational profiles in ensuring the ship’s energy balance and efficiency and in facilitating transit with reduced noise and zero emission. For hybrid arrangement, the solutions will improve discharge cycles of the battery systems for zero local pollution during approach and harbour stay. For full-electric arrangement ships, the solutions will improve the sizing of the battery systems and the charging strategies to reach longer zero emission sailing.

Expected KPIs:

  • Increase zero-emission transit during approach and harbour stay for each hybrid vessel
  • Reduce methane slip with ESS management for LNG-electric hybrid ships
  • Decrease CII (Carbon Intensity Index) for each vessel
  • Improve full-electric arrangement sailing distance: 100nm (short term) and 300 nm (mid-term)

Outcome 4: Two real hybrid demonstration vessels reaching above TRL7 and two virtual full-electric demonstrations reaching TRL6 in laboratory

Both main innovations (outcomes 1 and 3) will be demonstrated on a retrofitted hybrid Offshore Service Vessel from Solstad. This demonstration will allow evaluating an optimal exploitation of a newly installed 1 MWh modular BESS for drastically reducing noise and zero emissions during approach and harbour stay. The project plans to achieve the new BESS commissioning at the end of the second year in order to assess a comprehensive and significant four-year exploitation and test program with both configurations (2 years with one 500 kWh BESS unit, 2 years with one combined and hybrid 1.5 MWh BESS). NEMOSHIP will also exploit a newly designed cruise vessel called “Le Commandant Charcot” and owned by Ponant. The ship has an LNG-electric propulsion with an already installed 4.5 MWh BESS. Improvement will be demonstrated thanks to the use of the cloud-based digital platform for a data-driven optimisation of the power and energy management on-board, and a safe exploitation and maintenance. NEMOSHIP will assess a four-year exploitation program and corresponding data. In addition, a semi-virtual demonstration in laboratory with a small-scale P-HiL system (above 100 kWh) will allow to evaluate the adaptability of the innovations on two full-electric use cases defined early in the project (as ferry and short-sea shipping). These use cases will respectively target a short-term (sailing distance up to 100 nm) and mid-term application (up to 300 nm). It will focus on the improvement of sizing and plug-in charging strategies for short-term applications, and at mid-term modular DC electrical architecture enabling the use of large BESS in combination with other zero-emission power sources like fuel cells.

To reach these goals, NEMOSHIP will:
  • develop a modular and standardised battery energy storage solution enabling to exploit heterogeneous storage units and (ii) a cloud-based digital platform enabling a data-driven optimal and safe exploitation,
  • demonstrate these innovations at TRL 7 maturity for hybrid ships and their adaptability for full-electric ships thanks to: (i) a retrofitted hybrid Offshore Service Vessel (diesel/electric propulsion), a newly designed hybrid cruise vessel (LNG/electric propulsion) and a semi-virtual demonstration for two additional full-electric vessels such as ferries and short-sea shipping.
All results will be built upon a treasure chest of 18 years of energy storage system operation data. Thanks a very ambitious exploitation plan, accompanied by very large dissemination actions, the NEMOSHIP consortium estimates that these innovations will reach the following impacts by 2030: electrification of about 7% of the EU fleet; generate a potential revenue of €300M thanks to the sales of the NEMOSHIP products and services; reduce EU maritime GHG emissions by 30% compared to business as usual scenario; and create at least 260 direct jobs (over 1000 indirect).
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PARTNERS

 
The NEMOSHIP consortium is composed of 11 partners (3 RTO, 1 SME, 7 large companies) and covers the whole value chain, from research-oriented partners and dissemination and exploitation specialists to software developers, energy system designers, integration partners, naval architects and end-users.

NEWS

Batteries Europe

Batteries Europe: Position Papers on Cross-Cutting Topics 2024 Batteries Europe and the Batteries European Partnership Association (BEPA) have released five comprehensive position papers for 2024. These documents, created through collaborative efforts, focus on critical issues in the battery sector. The covered topics include: Education and skills: addressing the need for specialized education and skill development in the battery industry. Sustainability: strategies for enhancing the sustainability of battery production and lifecycle. Safety: enhancing safety standards and

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Results

All the work in NEMOSHIP is organized in work packages, each work package has several tasks to work on. The results of these tasks are documented in reports called deliverables.
You will find the public reports by going on the button see more and when reports are confidential, a public summary will be posted to keep you updated.

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