Author: Shift Team

  • PBES at NorShipping 2017

    It’s been a busy week at NorShipping 2017 in Oslo with great interest at our booth, located in the Disruptive Sustainability Hall, stand A1-18. We also had the pleasure of joining other industry leaders on stage for the Ocean Industry Conference – Catalysts for Change presentation series for a panel discussion about sustainable solutions and the increasing energy & resource demand.

    Still to Come at NorShipping – PBES Speaking at NCE Maritime Clean Tech stage:

    Thursday, June 1 – 11:00 – PBES CEO Brent Perry will be launching our technology release CellSwap

    Friday, June 2 – 11:10 – PBES CEO Brent Perry will be speaking about energy storage technology for the Fast Ferry sector 

    The Conference Tour Continues

    The next stop in Amsterdam at the Hybrid & Electric Marine World Expo, 5-8 June. We are excited to open the conference with a presentation by Brent Perry along side Erik Ianssen. The presentation titled Fast Ferries – the new case for energy storage is scheduled for Tuesday, 5 June, at 14:05

  • The Battery Power Play – Brent Perry featured in Maritime Reporter

     

    Brent Perry featured in April edition of Maritime Reporter, page 28-31. Short excerpt below.  Written by William Stoichevski

    This is historic, we tell ourselves, as PBES founder Brent Perry walks us around his still labor-intensive “bat­tery factory” in the heart of Norway, from where ship owner capital controls half of the world’s offshore tonnage. Perry, a shipbuilder himself, has chosen to house his first production center here in the haunt of another ship builder, Selfa Arctic, whose move north left for Perry a young cadre of college ­educated workers. They’ll build PBES ‘s stackable configurations of batteries that do not catch fire. Lithium cells’ penchant for catching fire or going into meltdown – so-called thermal runaway – has been the bane of an industry, as it struggles to produce a set that withstands the rigours of actual marine use. European environmental authority tests of”leading” designs showed they were not. Only Pe1Ty’s solution – steeped in decades of energy storage thinking from Western Canada’s lithium battery brain trust – has shown bankable and insurable safety, power management and surplus horsepower.

    Read the full Maritime Reporter article here, or visit their website: https://www.marinelink.com/magazines

     

     

  • A Driving Force for Electrifying the Sea

    “Long term strategy and sustainability is the same thing”

    Low and zero emissions technology in the maritime sector has gained a lot of attention in recent years, especially in Norway. The increase of electric systems in different applications  is considered a key opportunity for Norway to sustain their leadership role in maritime technology development. At the forefront of this development is Erik Ianssen, the man who in 2012 decided to build the world’s first battery powered fishing vessel in Trondheim, Norway.

    With the goal of reducing Norway’s diesel consumption by 80 million liters, there is no lack of ambition. Ianssen is convinced that new technology is the key to achieving this goal, and that the city of Trondheim will play an important role in this technology development:

    I believe the time is long overdue for a technology transformation in the maritime sector, and Trondheim has a great opportunity to become the national center for this technology development.  –Erik Ianssen, Founder and CEO of Selfa Arctic

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  • Hybrid & Electric Power for Wind Farm Support Vessels – Bringing Clean Energy Full Circle

    The European offshore wind farm industry is booming. In 2015, 3,10MW of grid-connected capacity was added, 108% more than in the last 10 years! With this growth comes a need for evolution in service vessels that support the industry. Energy storage technology is a major part of the current evolution of the maritime industry; hybrid and fully electric systems have successfully been installed on a variety of commercial vessels including ferries, offshore support vessels, fish boats, and tugboats. While environmental regulations have helped to create demand for this sustainable technology, the primary market driver is increased safety and reliability of the vessels and a significant decrease in operational and fuel costs.

     

    Rough weather and high waves often characterize the working environment for people and equipment during the installation, and maintenance of offshore wind farms. This means that wind farm services vessels have extraordinary requirements for immediate power, endurance, robustness and safety in order to maintain their operational duties in all weather. A service vessel requires powerful bollard pull capabilities, and in general excellent sea keeping abilities to withstand wind, waves and currents. In these demanding environments, human safety as well as operational expenditures are of key concern, thus service vessels must be built to the highest standards.

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  • Big Days for PBES Norway !

    The first shipments using our custom designed packaging are leaving our Trondheim facility. The ability to stack our battery modules on pallets makes for higher density of goods, reducing costs and minimizing the environmental impact of transportation by roughly half. The packaging is manufactured locally in Trondheim and is fully recyclable; further reducing waste. 

    PBES is proud to call Trondheim home and even more proud to help contribute to the local economy!

  • North America’s first electric fishing boat?

    A boat manufacturer in the Gaspésie region is working to design an electric fishing boat, which would be the first in America.

    Below is a translated excerpt from an article released in French by Stephanie Gendron in the Journal De Quebec, published on February 25, 2017. Read full article at www.journaldequebec.com

    “Technology exists, batteries exist, electric motors exist, all that remains is to integrate them into a fishing boat”, says the president of Ocean Marine, Danny Boyle.

    The company wants to meet this challenge by the 2018 fishing season. At start-up phase, six jobs will be created.

    “For fishermen, the first advantage of a ship that runs on electricity is the absence of noise. This problem, which can be harmful in the long run and can create hearing problems for the crew, is eliminated. There is also a reduction in pollution, “says Boyle.

    As fishing vessels are constantly idling, but the engine is still running, it seems logical to eliminate diesel as a source of energy, according to Boyle.

    The first boat manufactured will be hybrid, it will be equipped with a small diesel-powered generator that will be used to recharge the battery while the boat is not moving. But Mr. Boyle’s goal is to design a boat that will be 100% electric.

    The company will first target lobster fishermen in Gaspé. Their ships are old and ready to be replaced. The company, which is based in Chandler, in the Gaspé region, also has plans to focus on Norway.

    Continue reading the original article here

  • World’s First Electric Aquaculture Support Vessel

    Norwegian aquaculture company Salmar Farming has recently launched the world’s first electric aquaculture support vessel. The newly christened Elfrida uses batteries and power electronics from Siemens, which are charged overnight, and provide ample power to run throughout the day.

    Norwegian battery technology continues to show its robust nature in the workboat industry, reducing costs through improved efficiency. Best of all, the technology also helps reduce fossil fuel use and greatly improve working conditions. 

    Please read the following article by Teknisk Ukeblad for more details and a video of the vessel on her trial run.

     Norwegian innovation is, once again, leading the world with electric marine solutions.

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  • Watch Brent Perry Speaks at ENOVA 2017

    PBES CEO Brent Perry spoke last week at the ENOVA conference in Trondheim, Norway about the transition to a fossil-free society. Enova, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, helps development of sustainable technology in Norway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In September 2016, Enova announced $5.5 million toward the new build Hurtigruten hybrid expedition ships – a milestone towards Hurtigruten’s goal of fully electric expeditionary vessels.

    Mr. Perry, a global expert in hybrid technology, spoke about the revolution in marine transportation, which is being facilitated by energy storage, particularly in Northern Europe. Norway’s great prosperity was once based solely on the oil and gas industry and now, during the oil and gas downturn, a new pillar to the economy will supplement and support economic growth. Industrial energy storage is now being referred to as “the new oil”.

    With Norway’s 2030 Climate Neutrality goal as a guiding “North Star”, focus is now shifting towards electrification of marine transportation – due to its major contribution to the overall emissions problem. Hybrid and fully electric marine installations have shown not only environmental, but great fiscal payback. It is partly because improved efficiency provides rapid return on investment, that it has become so ubiquitous in the Norwegian marine industry.

    As noted by Mr. Perry in his presentation, the Norwegian marine industry is leading the way to environmental sustainability and the rest of the world will follow.

    The future of marine transportation is silent and emission free.

  • PBES Norway AS Announces Historic Cycle Life Milestone

    High power marine energy storage system industry best at >15,000 cycles

    PBES Norway AS today announced the achievement of an historic milestone of greater than 15,000 discharge cycles in their high power energy storage system. With this improvement in cycle life, the PBES system delivers the industry benchmark for available performance, safety and value.

    Cycle Life Graph_2017-01-17

    The combination of the best available cell with the industry leading thermal management provides customers with the highest possible value. The constantly optimized core temperature of the advanced PBES system assures the long system life and most number of cycles. PBES is now the industry leader with greater than 15,000 cycles at 80% Depth of Discharge maintaining 80% state of health.

    “PBES continually strives to make a better quality battery. While other companies focus on making them cheaper, our focus is to improve safety, quality and system life for the industrial end user”, said Grant Brown, Vice President of Marketing for PBES. “By maintaining optimal core temperature for the cells, the PBES modules maximize lifespan and, value for the customer”.

    Recognized for expertise in industrial energy storage, and premium service and support, PBES energy storage systems are designed to power hybrid and full electric industrial applications. Ferries, offshore supply vessels, wind farm support vessels, tugboats, port equipment and super yachts all benefit from PBES technology.

  • What does China’s energy transformation mean for the world?

    Watch Peggy Liu discuss China’s energy transformation at the ZERO conference in Norway.

     

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