Stillstorm’s charging buoys will be able to charge ships at sea with offshore wind energy. When ships are idling offshore, while for example waiting to load, they burn a massive amount of fuel. This is what Stillstorm wants to change with their buoys.
One of Stillstrom’s program managers, Sebastian Klasterer Toft, together with the Danish shipping company Maersk Supply Service wanted to solve this problem the green way and they came up with the charging buoy.
The buoy is simply a charging station that floats in deep waters, receiving energy from offshore wind farms or land-based energy farms. When a ship needs to charge, they simply moor itself to the buoy, plugin and charge with green, renewable energy.
Stillstrom buoys could be placed in the zone where ships wait to dock, in an anchor zone. If the buoys are placed in this zone, ships could plug in and charge while waiting to dock instead of just burning fuel.
Optimist Daily writes “the first set of proof-of-concept buoys will be launched off the coast of the UK this year. If all goes well, Stillstrom plans to install these wind-powered buoy systems in 50 to 100 ports over the next five years, giving many countries’ fleets a chance to charge and save gas.”
According to Maersk, the same technology used for the buoys could also be used to charge hybrid or electrically powered ships in the future.
“This is a global product because shipping is global but we also recognize that right now it is just going faster in some geographies than others,” Toft said to Business Insider.
According to Toft the aim for the company during 2022 is to "prove the concept." Over the next five years they aim to install the system at 50 to 100 ports.
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