GE’s Power Conversion business will provide dynamic positioning (DP) and vessel control systems to equip the next-generation platform supply vessels (PSV4500), currently under construction at the Detroit shipyard to the Brazilian shipbuilder Starnav Serviços Marítimos. These vessels, the first of which will be commissioned and will be put into operation by Starnav in 2015 on behalf of Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, will target fuel efficiencies as one of their primary aims.
GE’s control system incorporates an Energy Efficient mode, part of GE’s ecomagination portfolio. GE has developed a highly advanced predictive control algorithm, which predicts future motion and updates the thrust demands if the vessel is calculated to move close to or outside the operator permitted area. This makes for fewer small, unnecessary corrections, thus reducing fuel consumption, emissions and equipment maintenance requirements.
Additionally GE’s vessel automation and control system, featuring a novel fuel monitoring, recording and advisory system, grants operators greater insight into fuel consumption across various operational scenarios and cumulatively across the entire mission profile. In consequence, operators and individual users are better equipped to manage operational effectiveness and operating costs.
This latest contract for four ships brings the total number of Starnav ships featuring GE control systems to 13.
