Valencia, 20 July 2022. – The kick-off meeting of the HYPOBATT project (Hyper powered vessel battery charging system), an initiative co-financed by the European Horizon Europe framework programme in which Fundación Valenciaport participates as a partner, was held yesterday in virtual format. Its objective is to develop a modular, fast, interoperable and easy-to-use charging system for hybrid and electric vessels, all with a competitive performance in relation to their costs.
HYPOBATT, which has a total budget of 9,833,401 euros and will be developed in 42 months, will improve by 20% the overall efficiency of the fast recharging systems of the large battery systems installed on board ships through the development of two modular systems in two European ports. In addition, it will develop a fully automatic and safe electric ship connection system with the capacity to charge the battery system while at berth. Specifically, the connection time after safe mooring will be reduced to less than 30 seconds; the waiting time for charging preparation will be reduced by 20%; the charging time by 10%; the land required from the port side by 20%, as well as the maintenance, the number of components and the operation and maintenance costs. In addition, charger availability will be improved by 95% and battery life by 10%.
The demonstration will take place in the ports of Norddeich and Norderney (Germany), where the charging system will be tested on a vessel of the Reederei Norden-Frisia shipping company, which connects these ports.
Furthermore, the project will develop innovative automated connectors that can be applied to a wide range of vessels, thanks to their modular character, and which will also be compatible with the loading systems of the different ports.
Finally, HYPOBATT will analyse the market and feasibility of wider deployment of high-power electric fast charging of ships in other ports and will offer new business models by increasing Europe’s technological leadership in fast battery charging systems on a wide range of ship types. The kick-off meeting of the project was attended by representatives of the 19 entities that make up the consortium: Ikerlan S. Coop (coordinator); Fundación Valenciaport; Heliox BV; Rina Services SPA; Reliability and Safety Technical Center; Brussels Research and Innovation Center for Green Technologies; Fundación Centro Tecnológico Soermar; Flanders Make; Imecar Elektronik Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi; Commissariat a L’Energie Atomique et Aux Energies Alternatives; RHOE; Stemmann-Technik GMBH; Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt; Fundacja Motus; Aktiengesellschaft Reederei Norden- Frisia; Damen Research Development & Innovation BV.
