Blue Star Ferries Taps into Solar Power

Greek Ferry First to Feature Aquarius MAS

Eco Marine Power (EMP) has for the first time ever installed an Aquarius Management & Automation System (MAS) integrated with a marine solar panel array on-board the Blue Star Delos.

The Aquarius MAS has been installed as part of a joint renewable energy project with Blue Star Ferries and the approximately 2kW trial solar array on-board the vessel is now in operation and providing a source of renewable energy for the ship.

The Aquarius MAS installed on Delos includes a KEI 3240 CPU/AGU, LCD touch-screen monitor, input/output link system (ILS), associated hubs, power supplies and charge controllers plus an FC-38 battery pack from Furukawa Battery Co. Ltd., and flexible marine-grade solar panels from Solbian Energie Alernative Srl.

In additional to monitoring the performance of the solar panel array, the Aquarius MAS will also report on the status of the battery pack plus when the ship is at sea, display in real-time the fuel consumption of the main engines and calculate emissions. (CO2, Nox & Sox)

The installation of equipment on the ship was carried out by Blue Star Ferries own technical team and EMP’s technical partner in Greece, Triad Ltd.

The Aquarius MAS, battery pack and solar panel array were installed as part of the Blue Star Delos Renewable Energy Innovation Project. Blue Star Delos is a passenger and car ferry owned and operated by the Greek shipping company – Blue Star Ferries of Athens – a member of Attica Group.

Greg Atkinson, Chief Technology Officer at Eco Marine Power, said: “The Aquarius MAS and solar power installation on Delos demonstrates that solar power on ships combined with a flexible data logging and alarm handling platform makes sense. Not only will the system allow Blue Star Ferries monitor their fuel use and emissions but it will also help the company reduce fuel consumption by tapping into the limitless and clean power provided by the sun.”

Press Release