Maersk Supply Service, a part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, is launching its offshore vessel-charging venture, Stillstrom, to support the decarbonisation of the maritime industry by eliminating idle emissions. Together with Ørsted, Stillstrom will demonstrate the world’s first full-scale offshore charging station for vessels at an offshore wind farm, scheduled for installation later this year.

Maersk Supply Service’s pioneering new company will deliver offshore electric charging solutions to vessels at ports, hubs and offshore energy operations. “Stillstrom”, meaning “quiet power” in Danish, is an early-stage technology spin-out, whose full-scale product launch will be the first-to-market in offshore charging, enabling idle vessels to power from clean electricity.

Offshore charging for idle vessels is critical to facilitating the decarbonisation of the maritime industry, since it allows vessel owners to replace fossil fuels with electricity while being safely moored to the charging buoy.

The first full-scale charging buoy will, as previously announced, be demonstrated with offshore wind leader Ørsted in Q3 2022. The power buoy will supply overnight power to one of Ørsted’s Service Operations Vessels (SOV), thereby supporting Ørsted’s target of climate-neutral operations in 2025. Ørsted will be responsible for the grid integration of the charging buoy.

Ørsted intends to make publicly available any intellectual property generated during the design of the buoy’s integration into the offshore wind asset, to maximise the potential uptake of this carbon-reducing innovation across the offshore wind sector.

The charging buoy itself is large enough to charge an SOV-sized battery- or hybrid-electric vessel. The same solution will be scaled and adapted to supply power to larger vessels, enabling vessels of all sizes to turn off their engines when lying idle. By substituting fossil-based fuels with green electricity, virtually all emissions and noise pollution are eliminated while the buoy is in use.

“Stillstrom is part of our commitment to solving the energy challenges of tomorrow. By investing in this ocean cleantech space at an early stage, we can help lead the green transition of the maritime industry. Stillstrom has been developed within Maersk Supply Service and the timing is right to create a venture that will be focused on delivering offshore charging solutions,” says Steen S. Karstensen, CEO of Maersk Supply Service.

“Our vision at Stillstrom is to enable maritime decarbonisation, by providing the infrastructure that will allow vessels to charge from clean energy when idle offshore. The mission is to remove 5.5 million tons of CO2 within five years of commercial rollout, additionally eliminating particulate matter, NOx, and SOx,” says Sebastian Klasterer Toft, Venture Programme Manager at Maersk Supply Service.

Stillstrom is fully owned by Maersk Supply Service and has received funding support from the Danish Maritime Fund and EUDP.

Source: Maersk Supply