Eco Marine Power (EMP) announced that The Furukawa Battery Co. Ltd., has joined the Blue Star Delos Renewable Energy Innovation Project and has supplied batteries for use onboard the ship Blue Star Delos. The ongoing Blue Star Delos Renewable Energy Innovation Project will evaluate in stages, a number of innovative solutions developed by Eco Marine Power (EMP) and its strategic partners onboard the Blue Star Delos – a modern high speed passenger and car ferry owned and operated by the multi-award winning Greek shipping company - Blue Star Ferries of Athens, Greece - a member of Attica Group.

The batteries from Furukawa Battery will be used as part of the energy storage solution for the trial and will be connected to a marine solar panel array and the Aquarius Management & Automation System (MAS) jointly developed by KEI System Ltd. and EMP. The batteries will also be connected to a load and their performance monitored using the Aquarius MAS. Prior to selection for the trial the battery pack was subjected to vibration tests plus samples were tested at the Aquarius Innovation Lab in Osaka, Japan.

The battery pack to be used for the trial is comprised of twelve (12) Valve Regulated Lead-Acid (VRLA) FC38-12 (12V, 38Ah/20HR) batteries which have an approximate cycle life of 1,000 cycles at 25oC. Eco Marine Power will also conduct further lab tests involving the FC38-12 batteries plus evaluate other innovative energy storage technologies from Furukawa Battery. The battery pack from Furukawa Battery is currently being installed on Blue Star Delos and the first results from the trial are expected in early November 2014.