Kongsberg picks Leclanché to be its battery partner

Grimaldi Green 5th Generation (GG5G) vessels will be the first in a new series of hybrid RoPax vessels using fos

NOVEMBER 12, 2018 — Kongsberg Maritime has chosen Yverdon Les Bains, Switzerland, headquartered Leclanché to be its battery partner and supplier of customized marine energy storage solutions.

Leclanché’s batteries will be an integral part of Kongbserg’s hybrid solutions. Through the partnership, Leclanché will deliver one of the largest single marine battery system order to date for nine vessels totaling 45 MWh batteries. The systems will be built at Leclanché’s facility in Switzerland with the cells manufactured at Leclanché’s Willstätt facility in Germany.

The first project to be jointly executed will be Yara Birkeland, the world’s first autonomous and electric container vessel with zero emissions ordered scheduled to be delivered from Vard’s Brevik, Norway, shipyard to fertilizer producer Yara (see earlier story) in first quarter 2020.

The second project relates to the Grimaldi Green 5th Generation (GG5G) series of RoPax vessels for which Kongsberg is delivering a hybrid propulsion system that includes supply and integration of shaft generators, frequency drives, energy management systems together with Leclanché battery systems. The GG5Gs will be the first in a new series of hybrid Ro-Ro vessels using fossil fuel during navigation, with batteries providing a peak-shaving function and electricity in port.

Leclanché says its new partnership with Kongsberg underscores s strategy of being a vertically integrated system supplier to growth markets such as merchant marine and fleet transportation, moving beyond being a “pure play” cell producer. Leclanché made an early investment in developing a DNV GL certified battery system for marine applications, and is the first battery supplier to fully comply with the stringent 2015 regulations that are currently in force.

Frode Kaland, EVP Supply Chain for Kongsberg Maritime said: “Leclanché’s ability to cover the complete value chain from design and production of lithium cells in Europe, to full battery systems certified for marine applications together with our proprietary hybrid power technology positions us together as a single, unified supplier of electrification solutions that will deliver lower operational expenditure and enable environmental sustainability for all vessel types”.

Anil Srivastava, CEO of Leclanché said: “The partnership between Kongsberg Maritime, one of the world’s leading providers of electrification solutions to the maritime industry and Leclanché has the potential to be game changing as it brings low and zero-emission solutions to the sizable and fast growing electric and hybrid marine market. Leclanché’s focus on maritime is an essential component of our focus on the electrification of fleets and maritime is ideally suited to both our superior battery systems and our partnership approach to deliver emissions busting solutions. We are seeing a paradigm shift in the maritime industry towards electric power and partnerships with world class industry leaders such as Kongsberg further demonstrate that Leclanché’s opportunity is now.”