seatec - Finnish marine technology review 2/2016 | Page 24

photo: ABB In the case of a large cruise ship, as much as 6 percent – or up to 2  000 tons of fuel – can be saved annually by engine speed optimisation. photo: ABB T he new ABB’s concept has been accomplished with a simple configu- ration of electrical system, utilising existing ABB components. The concept is new to the commercial maritime industry. In the case of a large cruise ship, as much as 6 percent – or up to 2  000 tons of fuel – can be saved annually by engine speed optimisation. Dynamic AC adjusts the rotational speed of the diesel generating sets, allowing the system frequency to vary within the specified range. Currently, many ships still run with their generators at a set speed, regardless of the power requirement. This creates a surplus of wasted energy. Variable speed power generation can provide significant fuel savings with diesel electric propulsion, when the operational profile of the vessel has a lot of variation in speed and power demand. 22 seatec 2/2016 Dynamic AC adjusts the rotational speed of the diesel generating sets, allowing the system frequency to vary within the specified range.