Green Jade to put waste heat from its engines to use

The Green Jade floating heavy lift installation vessel, owned by CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering (CDWE) and currently under construction at CSBC shipyard in Kaohsiung, will be equipped with a system for recovery of green electricity from the waste heat of its engines.

German company Orcan Energy, specialising in technology for conversion of waste heat into electricity, will deliver eight of its efficiency PACKs which will recover 100 per cent green electricity from the waste heat of the engines of Green Jade.

The four installed dual-fuel engines will be each equipped with two efficiency PACKs. When all engines are running, more than 500 kW of electrical power is generated from the waste heat on board, according to Orcan Energy.

“Environmental considerations are an important element of Green Jade’s design. Waste heat recovery is a key technology in this respect, in addition to various other fuel-saving measures on board of the vessel. We chose Orcan Energy because the efficiency PACKs adapt optimally to load fluctuations and also work well at low loads”, said Hedwig Vanlishout, CEO of CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering.

The efficiency PACKs on board the vessel will make use of the waste heat from the engine cooling water and exhaust gases.

“Many players around the world are working on making ships more environmentally friendly. The fact that we as a German CleanTech company are now even on board Taiwan’s first offshore installation ship with several of our waste heat recovery solutions and thus part of a huge wind farm project in Asia confirms this trend. The use of excess waste heat is an important and economical component of the decarbonization of shipping”, said Andreas Sichert, CEO of Orcan Energy.

The company’s technology is based on the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), where the refrigerant is evaporated – a non-toxic, non-flammable hydrocarbon – and routed to the expansion machine as superheated vapour. The highly pressurized refrigerant is expanded, thereby driving the rotary screws in the expansion machine. The rotational energy is used to drive a generator that produces electricity, Orcan Energy explained.

CDWE, a joint venture of DEME Offshore and Taiwanese shipbuilder CSBC, reached the final investment decision (FID) for the vessel in June, with the first steel cut in September.

Green Jade, scheduled to be delivered in 2022, is the first Taiwan-built floating heavy lift offshore wind installation vessel.

Once in service, the 216.5-meter vessel will be deployed on the Hai Long and Zhong Neng offshore wind projects in Taiwan.