AIDA Cruises, part of the Costa Group, signed a co-operative agreement with marine battery supplier Corvus Energy from Norway on 20th August.
The aim of this agreement is the installation of lithium-ion battery storage systems on board the AIDA fleet commencing with the first AIDA ship in 2020.
Michael Thamm, Group CEO Costa Group and Carnival Asia, said: “Our goal is the emissions-neutral ship operation. The electrification of our ships is another important milestone on this path. Thanks to the co-operation with Corvus Energy, already in a few months, AIDA Cruises is going to launch this innovative technology on a large cruise ship.”
The Norwegian-Canadian company, Corvus Energy is a leading supplier of marine batteries. Further partners of the project are ABB and Siemens.
Following the introduction of low-emission LNG operations on cruise ships, AIDA Cruises is now also stepping into the practical use of electrical energy from battery storage systems on board large cruise ships.
Thanks to the use of this technology, the consumption of fossil fuel will be reduced further and the efficiency of ship operations will be increased significantly, the company claimed. It is planned to incorporate the experiences gained from this pilot operation on board other AIDA and Costa cruise ships.
In other initiatives, by the end of 2020, 12 out of 14 AIDA cruise ships will be able to receive shore power where available. Since 2017, ‘AIDAsol’ has been using the shore power plant in Hamburg-Altona regularly.
As part of its ‘Green Cruising Strategy’, AIDA is also exploring the possibilities of CO2-free production of liquefied gas from renewable sources (‘Power to Gas’ project) or the use of fuel cells on cruise ships. In 2021, in co-operation with Meyer Werft shipyard and other partners, the first fuel cell test is scheduled on board an AIDA ship.
