Carnival Corp. & PLC has signed a new agreement with Corvus Energy, a marine battery supplier.
Carnival plans to install lithium-ion battery storage systems on its Germany-based AIDA Cruises fleet, beginning with the electrification of the first AIDA ship in 2020. The goal of the partnership is to allow the practical use of electrical energy from battery storage systems onboard large cruise ships.
AIDA’s pilot program in electrification will test the system’s use of stored battery power for emissions-free ship operation for an extended period. It will also be tested for meeting onboard energy needs. Following this pilot, the effort will expand to Carnival’s Italian brand, Costa Cruises.
Michael Thamm, CEO of Costa Group and Carnival Asia, says, “Our goal is to reach emission-neutral ship operation. The electrification of our ships is another important step on this path. Thanks to the cooperation with Corvus Energy, in just a few months, AIDA Cruises will, for the first time, launch this innovative technology on a large cruise ship.”
For other sustainability efforts, in December 2018, AIDA Cruises introduced a ship capable of being powered in port and at sea by liquefied natural gas.
The company is also using exhaust gas cleaning systems, or “scrubbers.” As of last month, the systems have been installed on 77 of the more than 100 ships in Carnival’s fleet. The systems remove almost all of the sulfur oxide emissions and 75% of all particulate matter, as well as reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.
