AYK Energy completes battery renewal of four Svitzer hybrid tugs operating at Gorgon LNG

Image: AYK Energy

AYK Energy reports that it has completed a battery renewal deal for four Svitzer hybrid tugs operating at Chevron Australia’s Gorgon LNG terminal in Barrow Island in Western Australia.

The four tugs are 33 meter, 80 tonne bollard-pull azimuthing stern drive (ASD) vessels and are a variation on the operator’s standard S80/33 ASD design developed specifically for tugs dedicated to escort and shiphandling duties at LNG terminals.

Unlike conventional tugs, the Svitzer hybrid vessels for Gorgon LNG can operate on only one engine when lower levels of power are required or exclusively on battery power, while maintaining full steering and maneuverability

AYK Energy founder Chris Kruger, who managed the original battery installation for the diesel electric tugs which were specially built for the Gorgon terminal in 2012.said battery technology has advanced considerably since then and that he is delighted to be brought back to replace the battery systems which were at end of life.

The battery renewal project has seen the old batteries recycled and new AYK Aires battery systems installed on the Svitzer Euro, Svitzer Perentie, Svitzer Boodie, and Svitzer Dugong.

The new AYK Aires batteries will have twice as much energy density as the original batteries providing greater power and range. In total AYK built more than 5 MWh of battery power as part of the deal, equating to 1.3 MWh on each tug. The batteries will take up to 1.5 hours to fully recharge. The battery systems were built at AYK’s 5000 sqm automated manufacturing plant in Zhuhai China which opened in 2023. t

“It is brilliant to be working on these four Svitzer tugs again, which are real trailblazers as some of the first diesel-electric hybrid tugs ever built,” Kruger said. “The key now is to make them even more effective using the latest battery innovations. These new Aires batteries are not only much more powerful, they are safer, cheaper to buy, easier to install and maintain and they can run for much longer periods. We are showing how marine batteries can play a fundamental role in decarbonizing the maritime industry right here and now. The technology is here, it is proven and it works. We encourage more operators to consider switching to batteries as part of their decarbonization targets.”

According to Kruger, AYK Energy is seeing a surge in demand for its batteries across the maritime industry with the company supplying tugs, OSVs, superyachts, fishing vessels, work boats and even large container vessels as part of their power, Sales are projected to reach 100 MWh in 2025.

“A few years ago AYK was still a new entrant in the market but we are now a more established, proven business,” Kruger said. “Last year we made progress positioning ourselves to win the bigger battery projects. It is very encouraging that we are now winning these bigger orders competing with established players showing our technology not only costs less but is more advanced. We are now actively looking for investors to drive our growth further with plans to build factories in the U.S. and Europe.”

AYK has built lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for the Svitzer Gorgon LNG tugs which. Kruger says, is safer, with greater energy density than nickel manganese cobalt (NMC).

“NMC has been the most commonly used battery chemistry because of its supposed greater density, but its chemistry is known to be much more dangerous and more costly than LFP,” he said. “AYK is now showing that LFP can outperform NMC and deliver greater energy density, higher safety and better value.”