Amsterdam Launches Floating Battery Service
Skoon Energy and the Port of Amsterdam have launched a floating battery service to bring mobile stored power into the port and inner city of Amsterdam.
The battery has been placed on a barge and is powered by local, renewable energy such as Windpark Ruigoord, solar panels from rooftops in the port area and energy from biomass by waste-to-energy company AEB.
In April and May, the number of river cruise calls is at its peak due to the flower field season. Current grid connections do not provide sufficient capacity to meet the vessels’ power demand. The floating battery is anticipated to help meet demand, and when not needed for cruise vessels, it will be deployed in the city center of Amsterdam.
Peter Paul van Voorst tot Voorst, Founder of Skoon, said: “The use cases for mobile batteries are endless. Think about construction or maintenance activities on quays or bridges in the canals of Amsterdam, for example. Batteries provide a clean alternative to diesel generators. Additional benefits of the floating battery include transport by an electrically powered barge to the customer. This reduces noise pollution, emissions and traffic on the already busy streets. Also, the barge will not take up any parking space. This makes it a faster, smarter and cleaner solution.”
Skoon is backed by clean energy conglomerate Koolen Industries, which also owns Super B, the company supplying lithium batteries to the barges as well as to tourist boats in Amsterdam, and Smart Grid, which supplies the battery system. Kees Koolen, CEO, Koolen Industries: “Amsterdam is admired for its pioneering clean energy initiatives. The canal boats are being converted from diesel to electric power, and the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles is expanding rapidly. This idea to transport mobile batteries by barges is a neat addition to this city’s clean energy system.”
Zoev City is the partner involved in transporting the battery through the canals, with its full-electric vessels. The floating battery will be on the barge for six months. It will support river cruise vessels two weeks per month. During the other two weeks, the battery will be used by various projects in the city of Amsterdam, such as construction projects, film sets or events that often need temporary energy sources and traditionally rely on diesel generators.