Damen expands shore power capacity to support all vessel types

Dutch Damen Shiprepair Oranjewerf, a part of Damen Shipyards Group, has given a green boost to its ship repair, maintenance, conversion, and refit projects by expanding the shore power capacity to cover all types of vessels that call at the yard.

As part of Damen Shipyards Group’s mission to become a sustainable maritime solutions provider, the Amsterdam yard has provided shore power for many years. In this way, the yard offered low-emissions energy to vessels undergoing work in its docks. It was, however, not a solution compatible with all vessels, according to Damen.

With this latest installation, developed by Elma Systems, the availability of clean onshore power converted to 60Hz has been widened to cover all types of ships.

“Previously, we were able to provide shore power with 50 hertz. However, we get a lot of offshore, navy and fishing vessels come to the yard for work, and many of these vessels operate on 60 hertz,” Commercial Manager Damen Shiprepair Oranjewerf, Jeen van der Werf, explained.

He added that, as a result, the company often had to hire a diesel-powered generator, something the environmentally conscious yard wanted to avoid.

“We’re always keen to play our part in advancing maritime sustainability so, when we heard about a 35% temporary subsidy for sea goings vessels from the RVO (Dutch Enterprise Agency) for shore power installations, we were very happy to take part with an investment of our own,” van der Werf said.

Specifically, Elma Systems developed a rotary converter that converts the shore power to the desired 60 hertz.

The shore power system of 355A, which is installed on the yard’s floating dock, can support up to 250kVA. However, should more power be required, there is an option to add a battery or secondary power source.

Moreover, the rotary converter is therefore also equipped with a load-sharing system. With this new shore power system, Damen Shiprepair Oranjewerf expects to see a reduction in carbon emissions, making a significant contribution towards its sustainability ambitions.

“…we value the collaboration that we experienced during this project, from development till installation. It has resulted in a solution that will help, not only Damen, but also the maritime industry as a whole to conduct operations in a cleaner, more environmentally conscious manner in a very smart way,” Marco Roman, of Elma Systems, commented.