Building a Hybrid Beauty: Victoria of Wight

Victoria of Wight is the brand new and the largest ferry of the Wightlink fleet and has unique features in most ways. Besides the benefits from the battery propulsion, with a wider beam and seven decks she has more capacity for cars and passenger onboard.

Victoria of Wight especially designed for dedicated route in between the Isle of Wight on Portsmouth to Fishbourne route, as a part of overall £45 Million of investment including the provision of two-tier linkspans at both terminals.

In the Wightlink’s busiest route, Mr. John Burrows, the project coordinator, explains the main reason behind the battery hybrid solution on the ferry as a part of their “green agenda “ with minimizing the fuel consumption which equals lower emissions, less pollution and significantly quieter propulsion than other ships. Quiet propulsion is an important factor since Victoria of Wight operates very close to residential property.

The state-of-the-art diesel-battery hybrid solution allows operation with a reduced number of generators and lower emission and vibration and noise dramatically, also gives better maintenance value. Batteries support the diesel generators and also re-charged from them in operation furthermore serve as a harbor generator in harbor mode. There are two of 408 kWh air-cooled battery packs produced by Corvus, and housed in the two independent battery rooms.

As the statement of the Burak Mursaloğlu, business development and sales specialist of Cemre Shipyard, linking vessel’s power and battery management systems each other is the main technical challenge. Wärtsilä is selected as integrator company for the complete package of engines, generators, main switchboards, drives, and power management system.

There are four off medium speed Wartsila 6L20 generator sets 1.200 kW each for the main power source, only three of them run efficiently when sailing. The fourth generator to be used for non-stop running if any maintenance and repair work needs to be carried out.

The majestic beauty is particularly well-designed according to the Portsmouth and Fishbourne route. The turn in and out of the ports are quite tight and maneuverability is extremely important. Consequently, the vessel has an asymmetrical design for the adjustment of the ports. Like the other vessels of Wightlink, Victoria of Wight has Voith Schneider propellers, which allows the control of the movement of the ship’s bow and stern with high operational reliability. Magnitude and direction of thrust can be set according to necessity and smoothly.

With the help of two independent car decks and special double-tier shore solution, the vessel will be loaded and unloaded very quickly. As a consequence, there is a significant difference to punctuality on the Portsmouth to Fishbourne route.

The aluminum upper structure of the vessel helps the reduce power requirement regarding reduced weight. Totally seven decks with high comfort standards on dedicated spaces like Costa Coffee store and a shop, playroom, movie room for children and pet-friendly zone, Victoria of Wight is the most luxurious ferry of Wightlink.

To accomplish the “green” concept of the ferry, waste heat from the diesel engines are used to warm up the domestic water as a part of the central heating system. Also, passenger lifts regenerate electricity power to support internal electrical consumers.

John Burrows Victoria of Wight Project Coordinator << The water breaks the journey and the ship is an important part of the process. And when they come on board the vessel like this they will say, “Wow, this is a fantastic way to start the holiday.” The ship looks fantastic. Lots of open space, open decks, great view. What more could they want.>>