AYK Energy installs ‘world’s largest’ battery on Brittany Ferries’ newbuild

Andorra-based marine battery manufacturer AYK Energy has installed “the biggest marine battery in the world” on Brittany Ferries’ new hybrid LNG-electric ferry, Saint-Malo.

The 12 megawatt-hour (MWh) Orion+ battery was manufactured and installed at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard Weihai within four months.

The ferry will operate the Portsmouth UK to St Malo France route starting early next year. The newbuild recently completed sea trials.

AYK Energy founder Chris Kruger said the vessel will be able to operate on zero-emission battery power while entering and exiting the port, immediately improving air quality and cutting emissions in built-up port areas. He explained that the vessel is designed to run on LNG, battery power, or a combination of the two.

In Portsmouth, the ship will further benefit from the port’s plug-in shore power. Portsmouth is said to be the only ferry port in the UK offering electric shore-to-ship power.

“We are delighted the sea trials were successful and we cannot wait to see the ship in operation. A decade after I installed the battery on the first ever hybrid electric ferry, we are now starting to see battery powered electric ships compete with internal combustion engine vessels on price. That is what has to happen if the industry is going to kickstart the transition to electric ships. The change is now starting to happen,” Kruger pointed out.

He added that over the past six months, AYK received a higher number of quotations for vessels requiring bigger batteries. These include ferries, tugs and windfarm vessels.

Kruger further said that with pressure piling onto European shipowners from regulators in the form of legislation carrying stiff fines such as FuelEU and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) due to come into force in 2025, going electric is becoming more attractive.

“We have supplied what we call a “power” battery for Brittany Ferries which means it works in combination with fuels like LNG. But we are now seeing that the technology is there to go fully electric, with what we call an “energy” battery. This is the future.”

Last month, AYK launched its newest battery called Pisces. This battery has enough energy density to provide full power to larger vessels such as ferries, OSVs, drill rigs and windfarm vessels. Kruger added that AYK’s new 5,000 sqm Chinese factory in Zhuhai played a key role in installing the batteries in such a tight time frame.

Kruger said production is ramping up at AYK’s factory with sales already projected to reach 100 MWh in 2024.

He said the company is now actively looking at building gigafactories in Europe and America to support the growth of the business.

Kruger developed the battery for the first hybrid propulsion ferry, Prinsesse Benedikte, and the first fully electric ferry, Ampere in 2012. As a native South African now based in Andorra, he established AYK Energy in 2018 building its first factory in 2023 in China to be close to the center of the battery industry supply chain which he says is “10 years ahead of Europe”.

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