North Sea Giant

North Sea Giant

North Sea Giant, one of the world’s largest and most advanced offshore vessels, has installed an innovative cost-saving solution to save fuel, emissions and maintenance costs. This system, based on The Switch’s unique Electronic Bus Link (EBL), enables the 18,151 GWT vessel to change between its diesel engines, running just one of its diesel engines during many operations, when necessary, rather than the standard three it used at all times in the past.

The North Sea Giant EBL order is the company’s first for this breakthrough product. For vessels looking to optimize efficiency, operational uptime, cost control and reduce their environmental footprint, EBL is the perfect solution.

EBL for microsecond response and safe operation

EBL works to connect the vessel’s DC-Hubs and diesel engines and ensure efficient ongoing operations, even if a critical fault occurs. It does this by splitting the on-board grids in a matter of microseconds, isolating faults and protecting the complete operational system. This offers significant savings on maintenance costs. Also, by rapidly connecting and disconnecting energy sources from one another, including batteries and engines, they can be optimized for efficiency. This eliminates the need for the operator to run three different units during all operations, saving on long-term fuel costs and reducing emissions.

This is the first vessel in the world approved to run a DP3 class dynamic positioning system with one engine and batteries – a global game changer.

The Switch technology, supplied as part of a broader Wärtsilä solution, was installed in Haugesund, Norway, after a program of rigorous testing supervised by DNV GL.