Yard Selected to Convert World’s Largest Fully-Electric Ferries

Photo credit: HH Ferries

The project to convert two passenger ferries into the world’s largest emission-free ferries is gaining pace after Öresund Dry Docks of Sweden was selected to carry out the work.

The project to convert the ferries, operated by HH Ferries, is led by Swiss power company ABB and is co-financed by INEA, the EU’s executive agency for innovation and network.

For the project, both the MF Tycho Brahe and MF Aurora will be fitted with 4.16 MW battery packs that will allow them to operate 100% on battery power between Helsingør (Denmark) and Helsingborg (Sweden), a distance of approximately 4 km carrying more than 7.4 Million passengers and 1.9 million vehicles annually. Both ferries are 111 meters in length and can carry 1,250 passengers and about 240 cars.

The conversions are expected to begin in February 2017 when the containers with the battery racks are loaded onto the ferries. Dry-docking of the first vessel, Tycho Brahe, will begin in April and it will start operating as a fully electric ferry immediately when work is completed. Aurora will undergo the same process in October 2017.

For the project, ABB will be providing the complete power and propulsion system batteries, an energy storage control system and Onboard DC Grid technology. At both ends of the root, ABB will also install the first automated shore-side charging stations using an ABB industrial robot, which automatically plugs the ship in so-to-speak when the vessel is docked.

”Our conversion of the Tycho Brahe and Aurora ferries to battery operation is an essential part of our environmental strategy to reduce emissions and reduce the environmental footprint of our operations on Öresund. We are proud of the initiative, which is the largest single project investment in the company’s history. When the two ferries will sail on pure electric power before the end of 2017 it will be to the benefit our many passengers and the local environment,” said Henrik Rørbæk, CEO of HH Ferries AB.

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