ABB has reinforced its longstanding relationship with NKT by securing a contract for the integrated power and propulsion system onboard the owner’s latest highly advanced cable layer. The new order, which includes Onboard DC Grid™ power distribution system, Azipod® electric propulsion and Power and Energy Management System (PEMS™), follows an earlier success for ABB as systems integrator for the 2017-built NKT Victoria. Scheduled to enter operations in 2027, the 176-meter-long new build NKT Eleonora will have a cable-laying capacity of 23,000 metric tons to serve growing demand for subsea cable installation.
ABB’s award-winning Onboard DC Grid™ power distribution system, which enables integration of multiple power sources and allows a vessel’s engines to run at variable speed, will help reduce fuel consumption, contributing to lowering greenhouse gas emissions as a result.
With three 3,500-kilowatt Azipod® units maximizing maneuverability and thrust, and the PEMS™ optimizing total energy use, the combined power and propulsion solution driving NKT Eleonora will also enhance dynamic positioning (DP) performance to support safe and efficient cable-laying operations. This will be the first vessel equipped with a DC system to earn DNV’s DynPos AUTRO CB notation for DP operations.
“We are delighted to be working with ABB again following our successful collaboration on NKT Victoria, which, upon delivery, was the most advanced vessel of its kind worldwide,” said Darren Fennell, Executive Vice President and Head of HV Solutions Karlskrona in NKT “NKT Eleonora will be similarly groundbreaking, and it was only fitting that we sought power, propulsion and advisory solutions that could support the bold operational and sustainability ambitions we have for our latest vessel.”
ABB’s scope of supply to NKT Eleonora also covers several solutions from the ABB Ability™ digital portfolio. They include the ABB Ability™ OCTOPUS – Marine Advisory System, monitoring and forecasting vessel motions, and ABB Ability™ Remote Diagnostic and Condition-Based Maintenance. Connected equipment will also be protected by the ABB Ability™ Cyber Security suite, which is certified according to DNV’s Cyber Secure Essential SP1 class notation.
“ABB is proud to have been chosen to supply such an extensive scope for this advanced cable-laying vessel,” said Rune Braastad, Global Business Line Manager, Marine Systems, ABB Marine & Ports. “The order offers further evidence that our power and propulsion system remains the solution of choice for vessels requiring high levels of energy efficiency, performance, and safety combined with unmatched digital support and advisory services. We look forward to contributing to the realization of this groundbreaking project.”