EMEA News
Electric-Diesel Hybrid Vessel for Norwegian Navy
A new Norwegian navy logistics and support vessel (LSV) will use a hybrid propulsion system capable of running on electricity or diesel power, according to GE Power Conversion, which is providing equipment for the vessel.
The ship, to be built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) in South Korea, is expected to enter service in October 2016.
"The future to keeping navies at sea for longer, further from home ports and with increased resilience is by making them as operationally efficient as possible," said Commander Senior Grade Christian Irgens of the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation (NDLO).
"A key reason we chose GE's Power Conversion business for our latest logistics and support vessel is because their technologies makes this possible."
The vessel will use two independent propeller shafts, one driven by a large propulsion diesel motor and the other by a smaller electric motor.
At low or moderate speeds, the electric motors, powered by generators that also supply electricity for other uses on the ship, will propel the vessel, while the diesel motor will kick in at higher speeds and will be able to supply power for other ship services, allowing the service generators to be shut down.
GE supplied similar systems to four Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) vessels for the UK Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA).
