Batteries in Offshore Support Vessels - Pollution, Climate Impact and Economics

23 Pages Posted: 8 Dec 2016

See all articles by Haakon Lindstad

Haakon Lindstad

MARINTEK, SINTEF

Gunnar S. Eskeland

Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) - Department of Business and Management Science; Foundation for Research in Economics and Business Administration

Agathe Rialland

MARINTEK, SINTEF

Date Written: December 7, 2016

Abstract

This paper assesses the pros and the cons of installing batteries on offshore support vessels. These vessels are specially designed to provide services to oil and gas operations, such as anchor handling, supply and subsea operations. They have multiple engines and advanced dynamic positioning systems to ensure that they can perform their duties with high reliability at nearly any sea state. Combined with high safety requirements, this has resulted in general operational patterns with vessels running multiple combustion engines even at calm water conditions. For emissions, low engine loads yield high emissions of exhaust gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and aerosols such as black carbon (BC), due to less favorable combustion conditions. The high span for these vessels between low loads and high, and their great need for potential power at short notice, motivate our examination of hybrid setups with electric: the vessel segment should be more favorable than many. We find that combining batteries with combustion engines reduces local pollution and climate impact, while the economics with current battery cost and fuel prices is good enough for new vessels, but not good enough for retrofits.

Keywords: Maritime transport, Marine Operations, Greenhouse gases, Abatement cost and options, Hybrid power options, Batteries

JEL Classification: L92, Q50, Q52

Suggested Citation

Lindstad, Haakon and Eskeland, Gunnar S. and Rialland, Agathe, Batteries in Offshore Support Vessels - Pollution, Climate Impact and Economics (December 7, 2016). NHH Dept. of Business and Management Science Discussion Paper No. 2016/21, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2882009 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2882009

Haakon Lindstad

MARINTEK, SINTEF ( email )

Kolbjørn Hejes vei 1A
Trondheim, NO-7034
Norway

Gunnar S. Eskeland (Contact Author)

Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) - Department of Business and Management Science ( email )

Helleveien 30
Bergen, NO-5045
Norway
+4755959699 (Phone)

Foundation for Research in Economics and Business Administration ( email )

Breiviksveien 40
Bergen, N-5045
Norway
+47 55959699 (Phone)

Agathe Rialland

MARINTEK, SINTEF ( email )

Kolbjørn Hejes vei 1A
Trondheim, NO-7034
Norway

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