The transition to electric power in the marine sector has drawn valuable insights from the advancements in the automotive industry and roadside infrastructure since 2012.<\/p>\n
Key takeaways emphasise the significance of robust chargers, a well-connected network and competitive pricing as pivotal factors expediting the shift towards electrification.<\/p>\n
The establishment of technical confidence is paramount, necessitating standardised protocols between the charging network and vessels. In Europe, the CCS2 standard has been adopted, enabling fast charging within a 10-40 minute timeframe.<\/p>\n
Aqua superPower is at the forefront of steering this transformation within the marine sector, aligning with the principles observed in the automotive sector. The incorporation of a widespread open public network is complemented by catering to commercial operators\u2019 needs for high uptime and, at times, exclusive access to specific elements of the charging infrastructure.<\/p>\n
In essence, the marine industry is echoing the successful strategies from the automotive field to propel the adoption of electric propulsion toward a more sustainable future.<\/p>\n
Targeted audience<\/strong><\/p>\n When we incorporated Aqua superPower, recreational vessels were causing a lot of excitement in the market.<\/p>\n We continue to deploy recreationally focused charging in many marinas in Europe, the US and the UK, however, the commercial workboat market has woken up to the significant benefits of electrification when dealing with repeated short route duty cycles.<\/p>\n Be it cross river, cross bay, port maintenance, mooring vessels and aquaculture, these vessels tend to be in the sub 30m market, where we feel the efficiencies of the electric drivetrain and the refuelling infrastructure has no sensible competition in terms of best-in-class decarbonisation, ease of use and whole life cost benefits.<\/p>\n Additionally, scaling of renewable energy and the infrastructure deployment is the least complex when compared to gaseous fuels with least energy loss when converting energy into motive power.<\/p>\n Where boat operators have fixed and multiple timed routes over 24 hours, they will require exclusivity in regard to being able to charge at specific times of the day. Because it is easier to forecast usage of these commercial operators, Aqua can provide off-peak charging price benefits and price the grid requirement uniquely to their circumstances and needs.<\/p>\n Where a commercial duty cycle is infrequent during a 24 hour period, Aqua can allow public access to the recreational side, securely managed via the Aqua cloud, allowing reservations and terminations remotely, subject to a commercial operator\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n Managed network <\/strong><\/p>\n Aqua\u2019s approach to providing efficient and cost-free charging infrastructure to ports and harbours is different.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s business model, providing it can achieve medium to long lease periods for our infrastructure, is to own and operate the charging network. This eliminates the need for the operators and the ports to fund the infrastructure themselves.<\/p>\n Aqua has some 15 years\u2019 experience in high power DC charging. Reliability and efficiency of the network, in part, is about choosing the correct hardware partners. This is in parallel with developing the in-house software that reports across the network 24\/7. As briefly mentioned above, efficiencies cover uptime, effective competitive pricing, and balancing grid requirement with usage, especially where near or on-site renewables can be optimised.<\/p>\n Aqua remains focused on the sub circa 30m market, which includes port vessels, cross river and dedicated short ferry routes, here electrification is recognised as being the most efficient form of propulsion in regard to environmental impact, power, low maintenance and cost of life ownership.<\/p>\n These factors alongside government grants are driving the transition in conjunction with Aqua superPower\u2019s high speed charging infrastructure at ports.<\/p>\n At the same time, prices of powertrains and batteries are reducing, making electrification even more attractive.<\/p>\n On the commercial front, Aqua has received financial backing in the UK to enable the expansion of services to the unique requirements of commercial ports and harbours. This funding is in addition to that of the UK government for the Zero Emissions Network of Workboats (ZENOW).<\/p>\n The company is also playing a significant part in the investment upgrades required in a port which work to enable shore power.<\/p>\n When we include additional power for recharging motive power batteries, there is a sudden significant demand on the grid. Investment is required to upgrade these port power connections, be it new transformers, renewable energy generation and battery storage.<\/p>\n Aqua provides a fully funded turnkey solution, which includes upgrading grid connections, supplying and installing charging hardware and managing the customer journey \u2013all of which are fundamental to electrical infratsructure project at a port. <\/p>\n Lessons learned<\/strong><\/p>\n Charging infrastructure for ports is fortunate in that there have been many lessons learned when the first automotive and commercial chargers were installed.<\/p>\n These early infrastructure projects were fraught with power restraint, non-standard software communication, incompatibility between charging hardware manufacturers and vehicle makers. Other challenges include planning licences, planning restrictions, permitted development issues and other key investment restraints that slowed the market.<\/p>\n Aqua superPower\u2019s senior team was directly involved in those early pioneering deployment challenges. The team then instigated partnerships and strong relationships between automotive manufacturers and charging hardware makers. From these key learnings and messages, Aqua is again instrumental in materially promoting these solutions in the port segment.<\/p>\n There are a number of key deliverables necessary to create a thriving marine market that can robustly transition to scale.<\/p>\n One of the first is marine charging protocols – there needs to be standardisation between marine powertrain manufacturers and boat builders. These include CCS1, CCS2, MCS. In addition, Charge Point Operators (CPOs) need to be penalised for low uptime of critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n There needs to be urgent assistance from government accelerating grid upgrade applications into ports. When state or regional government grants are involved, it is critical that quality standards are met and if they fall short there is an appropriate body with teeth to regulate.<\/p>\n In addition, there needs to be updated regional planning guidelines that allow grid upgrade and infrastructure deployment. Landlord, whether they are private or public owned, need to allow reasonable lease length for an appropriate ROI.<\/p>\n There also needs to be a sensible subsidy reduction on carbon fuels while supporting 100% renewable energy when delivered into vessels.<\/p>\n Lastly, there also needs to be compatible cloud-based backend services.<\/p>\n Only then can the final obstacles to achieving a full transition to electric and better fast charging networks at ports be removed.<\/p>\n Aqua superPower has completed a number of commercial projects which are helping port and harbour operators realise the transition to fast vessel charging around the world.<\/p>\n Back in 2019 at Port Hercule de Monaco, France, Yacht Club de Monaco was the first marina in the world to equip its dock with Aqua\u2019s 75kW DC marine fast chargers, paving the way for the adoption of electric boating.<\/p>\n The UK\u2019s first e-marine hub of shore-side charging facilities for electric maritime vessels was switched on in Plymouth in 2022. A series of Aqua superPower\u2019s high-power DC electric charging stations were switched on in prominent locations along the perimeter of the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park. This includes the world\u2019s first 150kW charging facility at Mount Batten Ferry Terminal, the UK\u2019s first 75kW site at Queen Anne\u2019s Battery and a 25kW installation at the Barbican landing stage.<\/p>\n In 2023 Aqua superPower partnered with YCM to deliver the biggest installation globally dedicated to public marine fast charging on a single pontoon. To meet the ever-evolving demands of the electric boat market, YCM became the first to install two Aqua 200 HPC marine chargers, transforming the charging experience for high-performance electric leisure and commercial boats. YCM\u2019s status as a premium location on Aqua superPower\u2019s marine fast charge network, boasting the highest usage and daily charging sessions, makes it a vital showcase for the company\u2019s innovative technology in the pursuit of clean electric boating.<\/p>\n The LHD Group is a French corporation that provides 24\/7 services in the maritime, port and river sectors. The company is developing the first electric mooring boat for commercial port application, to be launched in the last quarter of 2024. It is partnering with Aqua Superpower on the fast-charging solution that will allow our vessel to recharge in less than one hour on a 400kW DC charger. The goal is to replicate the model to other mooring operators with predictable duty cycles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alex Bamberg, CEO of Aqua superPower,\u00a0talks to GreenPort about the company\u2019s work to expedite the electrical transition of the marine sector<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,1376,22],"tags":[1422,681,1121,9,236],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-4183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy-technology-greenport","category-greenport-exclusive","category-products-services-greenport","tag-aqua-superpower","tag-charging-stations","tag-electrical-infrastructure","tag-ports","tag-terminals"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4185,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183\/revisions\/4185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4183"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=4183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Some first movers in the Aqua network<\/h3>\n