Japanese technology start-up PowerX has outlined its plans to build the world’s first electrical power transfer vessel in a move that could lead to the emergence of a new shipping trade.
The concept is the vision of company chief executive Masahiro Ito, founder of software company Yappa, which pioneered digital visualisation technologies.
Ito’s plan is to build electric-powered containerships that will shuttle energy stored in containerised grid batteries between offshore wind farms and shore-based terminals.
The project will kick off with a trial 100-teu containership at an estimated cost of $30m, which PowerX hopes to construct by 2030.
The ship will be around 2,200 dwt and have a speed of between 7 knots and 14 knots.
Once proof of concept has been achieved, the idea is then to scale up to 1,000-teu and 3,000-teu power transfer ships.
The project is intended to help Japan achieve its target to increase wind farm-sourced energy from the current 20 GW to 10 GW by 2030, and 45 GW by 2040.
Ito said Japan is over reliant on imported energy and that in the future ships will no longer carry fossil fuels but electrical power in power transfer vessels.
“Japan is over reliant on fossil fuels and we import all our energy,” he said. “We think at PowerX that there is an opportunity to change that dynamic.”
“Instead of oil, the energy ship of the future will carry electricity from clean and renewable sources,” he said.
Such ships will allow more powerful wind farms to be developed much further offshore, and for power to be transferred over longer distances, without the environmental disruption caused by cable laying.
“There are no cables, you only have to build boats and the world is good at that,” Ito said.
Power transfer ships will also be able to transport power from remote areas to cities where the greatest energy consumption takes place.
Ito cited the example of a potential energy trade between the northern-Japanese island of Hokkaido and Tokyo, which could be served by hundreds of ships.
In addition, it opens the door for the international trade of battery power.
Along with the energy transfer ship, PowerX also intends to build a battery factory to serve the energy storage market.
