Soon, while traveling along the Belgian coastline, it will be possible to charge the traction batteries of electric-powered ships directly at sea. To this end, the world’s first Parkwind charging station for such environmentally friendly transport was recently launched in the area of the Nobelwind offshore wind farm. The marine charging station can support loads up to 8 MW. All the energy needed for this is generated on site and is immediately ready for use.
Image source: Parkwind
The charging station is located at the wind farm’s power substation. The simple design is said to be installed in two days. It was developed jointly with the British company MJR. The charging port is suspended from a crane and lowered to contact level with the receiver on the vessel. The charging port connects and disconnects automatically. After capturing it, the ship moves away to a specified distance and turns on the battery charging mode. No mooring with the charging station is necessary. The charge is carried out at a safe distance from the station.
To complete the charging session, the ship moves closer to the station and drops the charging port, which hangs in the air and is then pulled higher from the wave and splash zone. But even if salty sea water gets into the charging port, nothing bad will happen. A similar scenario is possible in the event of an emergency automatic or manual reset of the charging port. In this case, it is simply thrown into the wave, from where it is then removed by a crane. After this, the port is automatically purged and dried for further normal operation of the charging station.
The Parkwind offshore station is currently undergoing testing and will be used to charge the company’s vessels servicing the offshore wind farm. This and other stations along the coast on the 19.8 km2 Nobelwind field will enter commercial operation in the first quarter of 2025.