This project led by Glas Ocean Electric’s Dr. Sue Molloy is a story of green, marine innovation under the regulatory oversight of Transport Canada Marine Safety. It saw the conversion of Ambassatours’ Peggy’s Cove Express, a diesel-powered tour boat (formerly a fishing vessel) to a hybrid system with a clean, battery-powered electric motor in parallel with the original diesel engine. The 44-ft fiberglass boat is a Cape Islander style, which is used extensively in Atlantic Canada fishing industries. It carries up to 25 passengers on tours from Halifax to Peggy’s Cove. Renamed the Alutasi, it will be Canada’s first Transport Canada Marine Technology Review Board approved boat using electric propulsion powered by lithium-ion batteries.
In March 2019, a consortium of partners including JASCO Applied Sciences captured measurements of power consumption, air emissions, and underwater noise of the diesel-powered vessel as it sailed a 1000 m track line. Multiple vessel passes were measured to capture all combinations of the following variables:
3 propellers with varying degrees of wear
3 fishing catch loads (simulated with stability weights): 1000, 1500, and 1900 kg
Various transit speeds ranging from 4 to 12 knots
The goal of this work was to provide comprehensive real-world data that would help us understand the impact of boats on the marine environment and provide a baseline for assessing the outcome of electric conversion.
After the official launch the measurements will be repeated, this time for the vessel operating with the new electric propulsion system. The data from before and after the conversion will be compared to quantify the environmental benefits of going electric for this style of vessel.
Underwater noise, including that from vessels, has the potential to impact marine mammals and fish in ways that include causing changes in their behaviour (such as fleeing from a feeding area), masking communication calls critical to mating and social bonding, and causing undue stress. We still have limited understanding of underwater noise from fishing boats and how measures such as the use of electric propulsion would mitigate it; there is great interest therefore in the scientific goals for this project, which are two-fold:
By measuring the sound from this Cape Islander, a popular style of fishing vessel in Atlantic Canada, we will learn about the noise signatures from these inshore vessels and the factors that influence them, including catch load, upkeep state of the propeller, and speed of transit.
Once the post-conversion measurements are complete, we will know by how much underwater noise can be reduced with electric propulsion compared to diesel and especially how it affects sound frequencies that are relevant to various marine species.
The vessel has been successfully converted to have both a diesel power system for fast speeds, and a lithium-ion battery powered system for the slower speeds at which the majority of its touring schedule is conducted. As part of its remake the vessel is being renamed Alutasi, a Mi’kmaw word meaning boat that guides to the best fishing, and has been adorned with artwork by Alan Syliboy inspired by Mi’kma’ki petroglyphs and culture.
The project has experienced inevitable delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the project participants hope to capture the post-conversion measurements in late summer or early fall 2020.
Financial contributions from Transport Canada, Glas Ocean Electric, Canadian Maritime Engineering, NSERC, Nova Scotia Power, Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Research Association, and the province of Nova Scotia supported the project. Reduced commercial rates and in-kind contributions were provided by partners Sterling PBES, E.Y.E. Marine Consultants, Lunenburg Foundry, and JASCO Applied Sciences.
For four years, Dr. Sue Molloy has been at the helm of Glas Ocean Electric Inc. (Glas meaning ‘green’ in Gaelic), a business committed to scaling cleaner energy to coastal waters. Well known for her extensive work in the marine renewable energy sector, Dr. Molloy is the driving force behind the Alutasi electric boat conversion. She is a lead investigator of numerous ocean research initiatives, an expert in ship propulsion, and an award-winning Canadian representative for IEC and ISO. Dr. Molloy and her team are committed to reducing greenhouse gases and pollution in our coastal communities through the introduction and increased uptake of electric boats.
JASCO has worked with Dr. Molloy in the past modelling noise exposures of marine mammals from vessels based on satellite AIS vessel tracks to enable whale-ship avoidance for the Canadian Space Agency.
