Goals

Waterborne transport emissions represent about 13% of the overall EU greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector, with the potential to increase between 50% and 250% by 2050 under a business-as-usual scenario, undermining the objectives of the Paris Agreement. In line with the Paris Agreement goals, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), in 2018, stipulated a greenhouse gas emission strategy aiming at reducing GHG emissions from the waterborne transport sector by at least 50% by 2050.

Regulations descending from these concerns have driven exploration of various propulsion alternatives, ranging from replacing heavy fuel oil with liquified natural gas to all-electric propulsion. Each of these approaches is greatly abetted by the use of energy storage, and the most efficient means of rechargeable energy storage available today is the lithium-ion battery. However, large-scale adoption and implementation of batteries for waterborne transport is mainly limited by

• The high costs of the battery systems and their electrical integration;
• The lack of supporting infrastructures to facilitate fast energy transfer;
• Lack of drivers enabling economies of scale to accelerate market adoption.

The Current Direct project addresses those challenges by developing and demonstrating an innovative, interchangeable waterborne transport battery system and an Energy as a Service (EaaS) Platform in an operational environment at the Port of Rotterdam at TRL7 that facilitates fast swapping, fleet optimization, and novel business models. Thereby, Current Direct will:

• Significantly reduce the total lifetime cost of waterborne transport batteries by 50% through novel materials, manufacturing processes, and optimized components;
• Cut GHG emissions of the marine transport sector by 17.900 kt CO2-equivalent /year through electrification of existing vessel fleets;
• Increase the installed energy of containerized energy storage systems by 300% compared to currently available system;
• Trigger investments for innovation, employment, and knowledge creation in the European marine transport and battery sector.

Current Direct addresses EU challenges by developing and demonstrating an innovative, interchangeable waterborne transport battery system and an Energy as a Service (EaaS) Platform in an operational environment in the Port of Rotterdam. Current Direct will consider its integration across the range of different vessel types used in the coastal and inland waterway transport industry, including short to medium range freight and ferry services. The system being developed will allow Current Direct to reach the following objectives:

• Significantly reduce the total lifetime cost of waterborne transport batteries by 50% through novel materials, manufacturing processes and optimized components.
• Cut GHG emissions of the marine transport sector through electrification of existing and future vessel fleets.
• Increase the installed energy of containerized energy storage systems by 300% compared to currently available systems.
• Trigger investments for innovation, employment, and knowledge creation in the European marine transport and battery energy storage sectors

Highlights

• EDP NEW will extend its expertise to the Marine transport sector and lead the commercialization roadmap and Exploitation plan definitions of the Current Direct project
• Consortium formed by 13 partners from 6 EU member countries: Portugal, Belgium, Netherland, Greece, Germany and Austria as well as 2 commercial partners from Norway and the UK.

Demonstrators

The Current Direct demonstrator aims at validating the waterborne transport battery system and EaaS cloud platform in a real environment at the Port of Rotterdam. The demonstrator site will be located close to an existing dock, allowing to use already in place port infrastructures such as cranes, a sufficient grid connection for the Current Direct charging station and preferably access to renewable electricity provided by local windfarms. The demonstration and monitoring activities will continue for one year, and particular attention will be devoted to the replicability of the concept and experiences during the demonstration will be openly shared.

Demonstration Vessel

The demonstration vessel will be a waste transport barge, currently operating about 2300 h/year. Current Direct provides an innovative technological solution consisting of the 3 MWh containerized waterborne battery that can be easily installed and integrated on-board of the conventional vessel within 5 minutes due to the novel swap-and-carry concept. The stored electricity will then serve as the power supply for the auxiliary systems or to power the propeller engine which would conventionally be provided by a diesel generator or marine fuel oil.

EDP NEW scope

EDP NEW will engage in:

• Supporting the development of the EaaS platform and related business models, including the provision of ancillary services to the grid.
• Leading the evaluation and validation of demonstration activities performed for 1 year in the port of Rotterdam, assessing strengths and bottlenecks of the developed technology.
• Co-leading the economic evaluation, business model and roadmap for commercialization of the Current during Project
• Leading the development of the Exploitation plan for the Current Direct concepts 
• Coordinating the communication and dissemination activities throughout the entire duration of the project.

Partners