Panasonic today announced that a car carrier outfitted with Panasonic’s green technology has been completed and is now ready for the sea. The ship named Emerald Ace, designed to achieve zero emissions in harbor with a hybrid electric power supply system on board, is a result of joint R&D efforts the company embarked in January 2010 together with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to explore a car carrier using natural energy. The Emerald Ace will leave MHI’s Kobe shipyard today, ready to go into service on routes around the world.
The Emerald Ace employs Panasonic’s system consisting of its HIT solar modules (160 KW) and lithium-ion batteries (approx. 2.2 MWh). With this system, Panasonic is aiming to establish a technology that enables a ship to reduce its total CO2 emissions by supplementing the power generated by the ship’s diesel power generator.
The power generated by the HIT solar modules and stored in the lithium-ion batteries is primarily used while the ship is at anchor, allowing the diesel power generator to be turned off, thereby helping to reduce environmental impact of the ship in port as well as CO2 emissions. The lithium-ion batteries are located at the bottom of the ship, used as fixed ballast, so that they do not affect the carrying capacity of the ship.
