SAMBA: Full-scale fishing vessel incorporating new technologies

In News — October 12 2017

ADEX is member of the consortium that will develop de EU H2020 (phase 2) SAMBA project. The major outcome of the project is a demonstration and validation of a full-scale vessel incorporating new energy technologies.
This project will deliver a fully equipped 50-meter ship, powered by electricity from batteries and methanol generator(s), through hybridization. The power-train design will be applicable to various ship types in the small to medium engine category. In this case the key focus is on total power output of 500-3.000 kW. For the purpose of demonstration and verification for future commercialization of the technology a 50-metre-trawler, for “green sustainable fishing” will be built and operated on methanol and electricity produced in Iceland. The methanol-electric power train will be designed and optimized with maximum energy efficiency for propulsion and as well as for domestic and industrial use on board.

The project will address efficiency management by designing a real-time digital operation system (DOS) for the total operation of the ship. DOS will comprise ADEX systems for optimization of fuel use, propulsion, navigation, fish trawling, and air conditioning /refrigeration of the ship. The SAMBA project is laid out as a 5-year’s project (60 months), and expects the design phase to be around 12M (months), ship construction 18M, validation and testing up to 12M and the real-world demonstration minimum 18M. From partners experience it is important to have considerable time from validating and testing (classification of the ship and system) the operation of the ship before it starts “real world” demonstration.

By building a ship the total project cost is around 27 M€. The SAMBA team is applying for 1/3rd of the actual total cost, corresponding to innovations incorporated in the demonstration ship, and a customer and partners are providing 2/3rd of the total project cost. The consortium for the development of this EU H2020 project is formed by companies from Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Greece and Spain. A real-world demonstration through operation of the vessel in commercial activities will provide the basis for functional design adaptable to all or any small to medium size application for other vessel types, e.g. service boats, ferries, tourism and coastal merchant ships.