On October 6th, ForMare – Polo Nazionale per lo Shipping and service company of Confitarma, attended the first Stakeholder workshop organized in the frame of the Horizon Europe Project AENEAS in Valencia, Spain. This event represented a pivotal moment to discuss concretely on innovative and sustainable solutions for waterborne transport and a great opportunity to present the latest developments and results achieved by AENEAS Consortium, alongside discussions on the challenges and intended project outcomes.
The AENEAS Project arises from the need of the maritime sector, and the waterborne transport sector, to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by substituting conventional fuels for green and sustainable energy sources. The maritime transport is one of the most important modes of transport, carrying out 80% of world trading activities, thus playing a key role in global economy. In this sense, greening the maritime transport sector will realize higher emissions savings.
The project aims to provide solutions for enhancing the overall energy efficiency and significantly reducing energy consumption in waterborne transport vessels. These solutions rely on innovative electric energy storage methods that are safe and cost-competitive compared to traditional batteries. To accomplish this, AENEAS is developing three electrical Energy Storage Solutions (ESS) for waterborne transport, which go beyond conventional battery systems:
1. Solid-state batteries (SSB) designed for constant load waterborne transport applications.
2. Supercapacitors (SC) tailored for waterborne transport applications to manage power peak demands and peaks during loading.
3. A hybrid system that combines SSB and SC for waterborne transport applications requiring high energy and power density energy storage solutions.
The AENEAS consortium comprises experts from various domains to develop these innovative electric Energy Storage Solutions (ESS) and implement them in the industry. Key partners include FLANDERS MAKE, ABEE, CEA, SIEMENS, and I2M, who excel in designing and developing energy storage and power systems. Additionally, GRIMALDI, INLAND SHIPPING, FREIRE SHIPYARD, and SOERMAR are end users responsible for implementing the new technology. VAASAN YLIOPISTO, ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS, and ISSNOVA bring their expertise in research and technological transfer in the fields of battery technology and power electronics converters. FORMARE and FUNDACION VALENCIA PORT are service providers for project management, dissemination, and exploitation strategy to ensure that the project’s key messages reach the relevant target groups.
The event also provided the opportunity for the Consortium to gather together and discuss the state of progress of the project activities. In fact, the 5th of October the General Assembly of AENEAS Project took place in Valencia and all partners presented the progress for each work package and shared the results achieved so far, while aligning their next steps and generating innovative ideas for a sustainable waterborne transport.
