That there are huge ships crossing the oceans with tanks full of crude oil or liquefied natural gas no longer surprises anyone, but… What if instead of fossil fuels what they moved from one port to another were batteries charged with solar panels or wind turbines, energy collected in, say, a photovoltaic plant and discharged in a town hundreds of kilometers away? It may sound like a curious idea, but the Japanese manufacturer PowerX is convinced that it has potential and is willing to pursue it. That’s why he designed the X ship.
Its objective: to give the concept of a tanker a spin.
What is that “Battery Tanker X” thing? A peculiar ship designed with a not much more conventional purpose: to move green energy from one point of the ocean to another. With this purpose, its promoter, the Japanese company PowerX, has devised a tanker equipped with 96 (2.5 MWh) LFP batteries that allow it to store a charge equivalent to 241 MWh of clean energy.
Its promoters claim it as a pioneering initiative, “the world’s first battery tanker” designed to connect networks, islands and nations. “It transports gigawatt hours of electricity across the oceans, sending the excess energy to those who need it,” emphasizes PowerX, who emphasizes the key idea of his project: redistribution, the possibility of uniting producers and consumers. “There is a lot of wind, solar and thermal power, but not where people need it most.”
But… And what is its purpose? That same one, that of bringing green energy from the points where it is generated to others where it is demanded. Obviously there are other options beyond a tanker with a hundred batteries, such as pipelines on the seabed, but PowerX defends the advantages of its idea.
“The oceans can be deep, with seismic activity, and laying a submarine cable is not always ideal. The Battery Tanker can connect power sources across the oceans,” reasons the Tokyo-based firm. He speaks from experience: Japan is a country surrounded by deep water and prone to earthquakes.
What does the company argue? “The ship-based solution solves problems such as long downtime caused by submarine cable failures and repairs, as well as the high costs associated with ultra-high-voltage substations and connections,” he stresses. In addition to taking advantage, for example, of surplus electricity generated from renewable sources, its promoters ensure that cargo ships would allow offshore parks to be deployed in areas where it is now difficult to install cables.
Who is behind the project? PowerX, a Japan-based company that, of course, is not impartial when it comes to energy redistribution. Established in 2021, it is dedicated to producing energy storage and transfer systems and vehicle charging stations. As New Atlas points out, it has battery factories, so it would be favored if its new idea goes ahead.
The company has already advanced that during the third quarter it will establish a new firm, Ocean Power Grid, which will focus specifically on the business of energy transmission by sea with tankers for the transport of energy. “It will be responsible for the ownership, sale and operation of battery ships both in Japan and abroad,” the company advances. For now, and although it is looking for partners, it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Kyushu Electric Power and the city of Yokohama to move towards maritime transmission.
Infographic showing what Battery Tanker X looks like.
And how is the boat? Its promoters claim that X will be the first ship of its kind, a tanker designed to transport clean energy in batteries and electric propulsion. Although the company emphasizes that its proposal is “scalable” and can be adapted to “mission requirements”, it is already working on a first ship, the Battery Tanker X. The ship will be assembled in Imabari, in southern Japan, and should be ready for its first test expedition, if all goes well, in 2026.
While waiting for its launch, the company has already revealed the keys to its technical sheet. The Battery Tanker X will have a length of 140 meters with a beam of 18.6 and a draft of 6 m. Its gross tonnage will be 800 MT. With the current batteries, the ship will be able to travel up to 300 kilometers, although the company is confident that as its density increases, it can achieve greater distances. “She will be able to transport more energy over longer distances,” she stresses.
And the batteries? The company specifies that the battery system it uses is based on its patented design with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells, “safe, reliable and that guarantee a useful life of more than 6,000 cycles,” it stresses.
Another of the virtues of his proposal that stands out is the scalable nature: “It allows the installation of additional batteries to create larger electric transport ships, such as the Power Ark 1000, or even larger to meet the requirements of specific missions.” The batteries will be manufactured in Okayama prefecture and it expects to have them by mid-2024.
How do you plan the future? “Historically, battery densities have increased and prices have steadily decreased. As time goes on, the economics of delivering electricity will get better,” PowerX claims: “As battery densities increase and decrease costs, Battery Tanker will transfer more power over longer distances more efficiently.”
It is not the only aspect in which its promoters have thought. They have also looked at another infrastructure that can contribute to the viability of their model: retired thermal or nuclear power plants, endowments that they propose to adapt to operate as “connection ports”. “It is estimated that by 2060 more than 1,000 thermal power plants will be decommissioned worldwide, creating opportunities to use existing infrastructure to connect the Power Ark,” he muses. Taking advantage of these facilities will reduce initial costs.
Images: PowerX 1 and 2
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