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Eco Marine Power (EMP) announced today (August 6) that it has begun a project to jointly deploy and evaluate with Blue Star Ferries of Greece, a range of renewable energy-related technologies for shipping including the Aquarius Management and Automation System (MAS) with an integrated marine solar power system.

"The Blue Star Delos Renewable Energy Innovation Project is a major step forward towards making shipping more sustainable through the use of renewable energy and fuel reduction solutions on board ships," EMP said in a statement.

The project will evaluate in stages, a number of solutions developed by EMP and its strategic partners on board the Blue Star Delos – a modern high-speed passenger and car ferry owned and operated by Blue Star Ferries - a member of Attica Group.

Blue Star Delos and sister vessel Patmos already incorporate cutting-edge sustainable vessel technology, being the first vessels in the Mediterranean region that use the hybrid shaft generator system (HSG) - an active front end frequency converter system enabling the shaft generators to be constantly connected to the ships’ grid, improving power factor and creating less Nox emissions. In addition, HVAC and engine room ventilation use a frequency converted load dependent management system which is said to also lower fuel consumption and lead to a further reduction in Nox emissions.

During the initial stages of the project and in a world first onboard a ship, a marine solar power system using flexible lightweight marine grade panels from Solbian Energie Alternative will be integrated with the Aquarius MAS and real time performance monitoring of the solar power array will be conducted. In addition, the fuel oil consumption of the vessel will be logged and emissions data calculated using the Aquarius MAS.

The Aquarius MAS is an alarm handling, performance monitoring and data logging platform which also includes features to monitor fuel oil consumption, calculate emissions and monitor marine renewable energy solutions.

This system has been specifically developed by EMP and KEI System Ltd. of Osaka, Japan, to allow for renewable energy systems to be integrated into a common platform which can also be used to monitor other systems on ships such as main engines, generators and pumps.

Blue Star Ferries' own technical team will supervise the project whilst EMP will provide project management and technical consulting services in addition to providing equipment along with various strategic partners.

Greg Atkinson, Director and Chief Technology Officer at EMP commented: "This project with Blue Star Ferries is very exciting for Eco Marine Power and for our strategic partners as it will be the first deployment on a ship of some of the technologies and solutions we have been developing over the last few years including our integrated renewable energy systems."

"It is anticipated that the Blue Star Delos Renewable Energy Innovation Project will pave the way for the wider deployment of EMP’s renewable energy solutions across the shipping sector and this very important project has been made possible thanks to the leadership of Blue Star Ferries, a shipping company with a commitment to protecting the marine environment and encouraging innovation," EMP added.