Offshore charging station for electric ships being tested in the North Sea

The Belgian offshore wind farm operator Parkwind recently started testing a charging station for ships in the North Sea. The station is linked to a transformer station at the Belgian offshore wind farm Nobelwind, so the electricity comes directly from the 50 wind turbines installed 47 km off the coast. The technology developed by the British company MJR makes it possible to automatically connect and disconnect ships from the charging station, according to MJR.

Maintenance vessels used in the operation of the wind farm are charged at the station. According to Parkwind, the technology is suitable for crew transfer vessels with a charging capacity of up to 2 MW and service operation vessels with a charging capacity of up to 8 MW. The findings from this test station will be incorporated into the first commercial charging station, which is expected to go into operation in the first quarter of 2025.

Charging buoy from Møller-Maersk

At the beginning of 2022, the Danish logistics group Møller-Maersk founded a subsidiary, Stillstrom, to charge electrically powered ships and supply conventionally powered ships on the high seas with electricity. Together with the energy company Ørsted, it has developed a special buoy for this purpose.

After that, there was no news of the project for a while. In March of this year, Stillstrom announced that it was working with the operator of the port of Skagen to examine whether the technology could be used for the Skagen Anchorage. More than 3800 ships dock there for at least six hours every year. During this time, they produce 66,000 tons of CO₂ emissions annually, which could be reduced by charging current from a buoy.

(anw)