Leclanché marine battery system equipped on cruise vessel for ‘first’ time

Swiss energy storage solutions provider Leclanché SA has outfitted a hybrid ocean cruise vessel with marine battery power systems in collaboration with marine technology resource supplier Century Ship Service.

The two partners revealed the completion of this project on October 9. As disclosed, Leclanché and Century Ship Service, which provides solutions for marine power, construction, installation, operations, logistics and repairs, equipped the former company’s 4 MWh Navius MRS-3 system onto a vessel said to be part of a new class of hybrid cruise ships.

Officials from Leclanché have noted that this was the inaugural installation of the Navius MRS-3 system in the ocean cruise segment.

Now that they are fully operational, the batteries are expected to allow the vessel to operate in hybrid mode, which is aimed at enabling carbon-neutral operations around ‘sensitive’ environments like the Norwegian fjords.

As informed, the ship in question, which boasts an overall length of 140 meters, has been extended by another 11 meters in order to squeeze in the battery rooms and the hydrogen systems.

By extension, the hybrid operation mode is anticipated to allow the ship to meet environmental stipulations, such as the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) as well as broader emission reduction mandates set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO)—like the Net Zero Framework (NFZ)—by next year.

To remind, Leclanché received a stamp of approval for its Navius MRS-3 marine rack system from classification societies Lloyd’s Register (LR) and Bureau Veritas (BV) back in June this year.

The company explained at the time that the green lights for the lithium-ion-based solution confirmed the necessary safety and performance requirements for marine equipment as set by both the UK-based LR and France-headquartered BV.

Over the past two years, the Swiss marine technology player, which was founded in 1909 in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, has inked contracts for numerous electrification projects.

At least two, for instance, were signed in September 2023. One was penned in the middle of that month with Scotland’s Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), entailing the installation of a pair of 1.1 MWh Navius MRS-3 systems onto a hybrid roll-on, roll-off passenger and vehicle ferries (RoPax) duo owned by CMAL.

The other was signed at the end of that month with Norwegian system integrator Brunvoll Mar-El for the electrification of a conventionally powered Norwegian ferry, owned by Rødne Trafikk, Norway’s largest family-owned high-speed boat company.