Stillstrom

History

2022: Enterprise Launch

On January 25, 2022, Maersk announced the launch of an electric ship charging plant that will help reduce emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. The new company was called Stillstrom, which in Danish means "quiet energy."

The solution proposed by Maersk has the form of a buoy, to which ships equipped with a charging infrastructure can dock. Vessels continue to consume energy during night downtime or during stops on the route. This energy usually comes from fossil fuels. Charging buoys are an innovation that allows idle ships to power themselves with electricity. The buoys are large enough to provide energy to a battery the size of a service vessel. Maersk plans to scale up the buoys in order to ensure the charging of larger ships in the future.

Maersk created a company to build charging stations for electric cargo ships

Describing the project's intent, Sebastian Clusterer Toft, Venture Program Manager at Maersk Supply Service, said:

Our Stillstrom vision is to decarbonize maritime transport by building infrastructure that will allow ships to charge from clean energy while at sea. Our goal is to remove 5.5 million tons of CO2 within five years of commercial implementation, additionally eliminating particulate matter, NOx and SOx.

Maersk will demonstrate buoys with its partner Ørsted, a Danish renewable energy company, in the 3rd quarter of 2022. The pilot buoy will provide electricity for one of Ørsted's service operations vessels during the day, supporting the company's goal of ensuring climate neutral activities in 2025. Ørsted intends to make public any intellectual property that the company will create during the design of the integration of buoys into offshore wind farms in order to stimulate the introduction of buoys in the offshore wind sector.

Maersk plans to install buoys on ships in ports, centers and marine power facilities around the world. According to company manager Sebastian Clusterer, the goal is to install 3-10 buoys in 100 ports by 2028 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by five million tons per year while reducing air pollution and noise.

The charging buoy solves many problems: reducing emissions, ensuring safe mooring of ships, improving energy efficiency and eliminating engine noise. It is also a solution that can be implemented on a global scale, and which can be adapted as the marine industry moves towards hybridization and electrification, "he said.[1]

Notes