AYK Energy has completed the installation and sea trials for the second Brittany Ferries vessel to feature the biggest marine battery ever built.

AYK installed the 12 megawatt-hour (MWh) Orion+ battery into Brittany Ferries Guillaume de Normandie hybrid electric ferry after installing the exact same battery system aboard its sister ship Saint-Malo at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard Weihai. The vessel has now completed its sea trials and is heading to Britain where it will operate the Portsmouth – Caen route. The Saint-Malo ferry meanwhile is set to operate Portsmouth - St Malo route with the first sailing scheduled this month.

AYK Founder Chris Kruger hailed AYK’s achievement to manufacture and install the two biggest marine batteries ever made at the same time for two ships.

“We would again like to thank Brittany Ferries for giving AYK the opportunity to supply these two highly innovative ferries,” he said. “This was a huge job for our company and shows how we are maturing as a business. To win the order in April 2024 and deliver the project by early 2025 shows the capability of our team and factory.”

Mr Kruger said the project is a major landmark for marine battery technology.

“These two ferries demonstrate how marine battery technology is advancing in energy density, safety and speed of installation,’ he said. “We are further seeing that the cost of battery powered vessels is starting to compete with internal combustion engine ships. This is important if electric batteries are to play a key role in the decarbonization of shipping and help the industry meet the IMO’s GHG targets.”

Mr Kruger said the vessels will be able to operate on zero emission battery power while entering and exiting port immediately improving air quality and cutting emissions in built up port areas.  He said the vessels are designed to run on LNG, battery-power or a combination of the two. In Portsmouth the ships will further benefit from the installation plug in shore power, the only ferry port in the UK offering electric shore to ship power.  

Mr Kruger said with pressure piling onto European ship owners from regulators in the form legislation carrying stiff fines such as FuelEU and the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) due to come into force from 2025, going electric is becoming more attractive.

“We have supplied what we call a power battery for Brittany Ferries which means it works in combination with fuels like LNG,” he said. “But we are now seeing that the technology is there to go fully electric, what we call an energy battery. This is the future. And AYK made a significant step forward to making this happen by last month launching a battery called Pisces. This battery has enough energy density to provide full power to larger vessels such as ferries, OSVs, drill rigs and windfarm vessels.”

Kruger is known as one of the founders of marine battery technology, having worked first in the electric car industry before moving to marine.  He developed the battery for the first hybrid propulsion ferry, Princess Benedikte, and the first fully electric ferry, Ampere in 2012. A native South African now based in Andorra he established AYK Energy in 2018 building its first factory in 2023 China to be close to the center of the battery industry supply chain which he says is 10 years ahead of Europe in China.