HYBRID car carrier Emerald Ace was recently snapped at the Port of Adelaide.
The Mitsui O.S.K. Lines was launched earlier this year, with MOL president Koichi Muto saying how it was designed to generate zero emissions while berthed.
The Emerald Ace was built as world’s first newly built hybrid car carrier, and is equipped with a hybrid electric power supply system that combines a 160kW solar generation system – jointly developed by MHI, Energy Company of Panasonic Group, and MOL – with lithium-ion batteries that can store some 2.2MWh of electricity.
Conventional power generation systems use diesel-powered generators to supply onboard electricity while berthed.
On the Emerald Ace, electricity is generated by the solar power generation system while the vessel is under way and stored in the lithium-ion batteries.
The diesel-powered generator is completely shut down when the ship is in berth, and the batteries provide all the electricity it needs, resulting in zero emissions at the pier.
The vessel’s hybrid system is said to represents “a significant step forward” in next-generation car carriers.
