The technology group Wärtsilä, the marine industry's leading LNG solutions and services provider, will supply its advanced Energy Storage System (ESS) to be retrofitted on four Harvey Energy class LNG-fuelled Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs), the company said in its release.
A fifth vessel in this class was earlier fitted with a Wärtsilä ESS. Louisiana-based Harvey Gulf placed this latest order with Wärtsilä in October. When the upgrade project is completed, all five vessels will be capable of full tri-fuel operation, thus providing Harvey Gulf with the most flexible, fuel efficient class of PSVs in the Gulf of Mexico.
The boats will be capable of closed bus Dynamic Positioning (DP) operation running only one engine augmented by the Wärtsilä Energy Storage System. When stationary in the field or in port, the boats will be able to operate on battery power only, thereby greatly reducing both fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.
The four vessels, the 'Harvey Power', 'Harvey Liberty', 'Harvey Freedom', and 'Harvey America', will each be fitted with a Wärtsilä ESS comprising a Closed Bus-Tie 1360Kw Drive with 746 kWh 1100 VDC Batteries. The retrofitting project will be commenced in 2021 and will be completed in early 2022.
Founded in 1955, Louisiana-based Harvey Gulf International Marine is a marine transportation company that specializes in providing offshore supply and multi-purpose support vessels for deep water operations in the US Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Africa and Alaska.
Wärtsilä in brief:
Wärtsilä is a global leader in smart technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. By emphasising sustainable innovation, total efficiency and data analytics, Wärtsilä maximises the environmental and economic performance of the vessels and power plants of its customers. In 2019, Wärtsilä's net sales totalled EUR 5.2 billion with approximately 19,000 employees. The company has operations in over 200 locations in more than 80 countries around the world. Wärtsilä is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.