Danish battery sharing pioneer Skoon Energy has partnered with the Port of Amsterdam to launch a floating battery service which will provide mobile energy storage in the port and inner city of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, reducing the use of diesel to recharge boat batteries.
Skoon Energy and the Port of Amsterdam launched last week a mammoth battery in Amsterdam which sits atop a barge and is powered by local renewable energy.
While neither company has provided detailed specifications for the battery, it will be charged from renewable energy sources such as a 27 MW wind farm, located at Ruigoord in Afrikahaven in the Port of Amsterdam, and jointly owned between the Port of Amsterdam and Danish utility Eneco.
Other renewable energy sources that will power the new floating battery include solar panels from rooftops in the port area and energy from biomass by waste-to-energy company AEB.
“We have started this project with Skoon, as it is in line with our ambition of creating partnerships that will help us become a zero-emission Port,” explained Koen Overtoom, CEO at Port of Amsterdam in a statement.
“Together with Skoon and Zoev City, the floating battery will also be deployed in the city centre of Amsterdam, when it is not needed to deliver power to river cruise vessels at berth.”
A floating electric battery could be particularly helpful in the Port of Amsterdam and inner Amsterdam waterways, particularly in April and May when the number of river cruises docked in Amsterdam is at its peak during local tulip season.
As it stands, current grid connections do not provide sufficient capacity to meet the power needs of the many cruise vessels which, in turn, requires some to recharge their batteries using noisy diesel generators, which in turn creates noise pollution and harmful emissions.
The new Skoon Energy floating battery will avoid both emissions and noise pollution, and also provide balance for the city’s electricity grid.
“The use cases for mobile batteries are endless,” said Peter Paul van Voorst tot Voorst, founder of Skoon in a statement.
“Think about construction or maintenance activities on quays or bridges in the canals of Amsterdam, for example. Batteries provide a clean alternative to diesel generators. Additional benefits of the floating battery include transport by an electrically powered barge to the customer.
“This reduces noise pollution, emissions, and traffic on the already busy streets. Also, the barge will not take up any parking space. This makes it a faster, smarter and cleaner solution.”
Skoon Energry is backed by Dutch clean energy investor Koolen Industries – which also owns Super B, which provides the lithium-ion batteries to the barges, as well as tourist boasts in Amsterdam, and also Smart Grid, which supplies the battery system for the barge battery.
“Amsterdam is admired for its pioneering clean energy initiatives,” said Kees Koolen, CEO of Koolen Industries in a statement.
“The canal boats are being converted from diesel to electric power, and the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles is expanding rapidly. This idea to transport mobile batteries by barges is a neat addition to this city’s clean energy system.”
The new floating battery barge will be available for six months, during which time it will provide electricity charging for river cruise vessels two weeks out of every month – and power to other various projects throughout Amsterdam for the remainder of the month.
Other projects which will benefit from the battery barge include construction projects, film sets, or events in need of temporary energy sources but which traditionally rely on diesel generators.
