Leading the Way to Hybrid Diesel Electric Propulsion

By Paul Molyneaux.

In 2021, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) initially received funding from the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnerships Project for modeling and analysis of alternative propulsion systems. Based on that work, the original plan—developed in conjunction with the National Research Energy Laboratory—was to put a Transfluid clutch, electric motor, and batteries on Eric Jordan’s troller, the I Gotta, but Jordan has withdrawn his vessel from the project for personal reasons but continues to lend financial support. After receiving $700,000 in additional funding from the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technology Office and $500,000 from the Department of Energy, the new plan is to outfit Jeff Turner’s troller longliner, the Mirage.

“The Mirage is a troller/longliner freezer boat,” says Chandler Kemp, owner of Kempy Energetics in Dillingham, Alaska, and Energy Efficiency Consultant for the project. “The Mirage has a genset on board, which allows the vessel to keep its batteries charged on longer trips without starting the main engine,” says Kemp. He notes that Jordan’s boat, being a day boat, would have been able to recharge its batteries every night using Sitka’s abundant hydropower, the Mirage stays out for a week at a time and will be less efficient because of the conversion loss involved in charging from a genset. “The percent fuel savings will be lower for an operating profile like the Mirage than for the I Gotta,” says Kemp, but he roughly estimates a 20 percent fuel savings and reduced wear and tear on the main engine. “This can lay the groundwork for decarbonization and show the benefits of the system.”

Jeff Turner’s Mirage has a 300-hp Cummins 6C and a Bollard 32 kW genset. Because the Transfluid gear and motors are sandwiched between the engine and reduction, the vessel’s powertrain has required some changes in the Transfluid system being ordered. “There’s a new reduction gear,” says Kemp.

read more at nationalfisherman.com.