Cruise Ship Power 2

[jeffreed]

I just had a few questions about cruise ship power.
How do they monitor the power while out on a cruise? Is there a substation on the ship? Is there a substation when the ships use shore power? Are there companies that setup shore power for Cruise lines?

 

[jeffreed]

Also what do the Utilities think of Shore Power? Do they have any problems with it?

 

[dpc]

Power is power - the power usage at sea can easily be metered via permanent metering installed in the ship's power distribution system. The ship has a large electrical power distribution just like a large office building (or small city).

For a ship as large as a cruise ship, there will be special shore power specifications and the port and/or the cruise line will be responsible for the power distribution system from the utility interface to the ship.

Utilities don't have a problem for most part. They have rate schedules that take into account the part-time nature of these services. As long as someone is paying the bill, they are happy.

"Theory is when you know all and nothing works. Practice is when all works and nobody knows why. In this case we have put together theory and practice: nothing works... and nobody knows why! (Albert Einstein)

 

[rbulsara]

I have no first hand information. A google search turned up this link of interest...

http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca/news-nouvelles/20090831-2-1-eng.cfm

It says, "the new shore power installation is the first of its kind in Canada and only third in the world. It is the result of a $9-million cooperative investment...". Sounds like a full fledged shore power system for a cruise ship may not be that common.



Rafiq Bulsara

http://www.srengineersct.com

 

[dpc]

This is a good point. The large cruise ships have to run some of their generators even while at shore since power demand is so high. Some ports are doing demonstration projects to see if they can provide adequate shore power to allow the onboard generators to be shut down.

"Theory is when you know all and nothing works. Practice is when all works and nobody knows why. In this case we have put together theory and practice: nothing works... and nobody knows why! (Albert Einstein)

 

[Zogzog]

Many ports have plenty of shore power, same with naval bases, a cruise ship is a canoe compared to an aircraft carrier, One of my jobs in the navy was hooking up shore power when we pulled in to port, took about 20 minutes to hook up and we could start shutting down our generators and reactor.

Shipboard systems are different from land based, they are very versitile and flexible on ways to dist power.

 

[Eleceng01]

ZogZog, were you a surface nuclear electrician? 20 minutes - it took at least double that for subs!

 

[jeffreed]

Would a cruise ship want to use an industrial meter to make sure that they are charged the right amount? It seems like they would be using a lot of electricity and would want to make sure it is accurate when hooking up to shore power.

 

[dpc]

I suspect shore power is actually a very small component of their overhead costs. I'm sure they could monitor the energy taken from shore power if they wanted to.

"Theory is when you know all and nothing works. Practice is when all works and nobody knows why. In this case we have put together theory and practice: nothing works... and nobody knows why! (Albert Einstein)

 

[jumaj]

Cruise ships may have more strigent emission regulations by virtue of being passenger vessels. This means they most probably may be allowed to run their own generators while at port and avoid the unnecessary hassle of tariff negotiations with the harbour utility.
The KW part is usually easy as it may be pegged to oil price equivalent, or something in the same vein. Kvars are harder to agree upon as different countries will have different ways of billing. For some ship masters it is easier to run own generators for this reason.
About hooking up to shore power, I have not been involved.

Curiosity has its reasons for existence - Albert Einstein

 

[waross]

There have been previous threads concerning shore power for cruise ships and other large vessels. As mentioned in the article linked by Rafiq, reduced exhaust emissions are the factor in the push for shore power for large vessels. It may be economical for small vessels drawing a few hundred KW or less to use shore power. Larger vessels are often be able to generate their own power more economically than buying shore power. Environmental concerns are causing port authorities to pressure large vessels to stop their engines when in port and use shore power.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[WDeanN]

Eleceng01, AT LEAST double that for subs, indeed!
By the time you climb under the superstructure, open the shore power hatch, dry it out, meg the connections, dry it out again, meg it again, then connect the shore power cables, it took quite a while.

On the other hand, we were some of the last ones in going out, and among the first ones out coming into port!

 

[BJC]

http://www.ship-technology.com/projects/queen_mary/

Is a link to the QM2. Most big liners are electrically driven. PArt of the reason has to be so the layout of engine/generators and propulsion motoers can be arranged to maxamize the number of cabins you can put in, the other has to be it's cheaper and faster to build.

 

[Zogzog]

Wdean and Eleceng01. Subs, but real subs(fast attack) 20 minutes was the norm for us. The boomer guys took twice as long, blue crew did first half, gold crew did other half.

SSN-701

 

[Eleceng01]

Zogzog & WDeanN, ok maybe my memory is failing me again then - I was also a REAL submariner (SSN-648 & then the luxury of SSN-724).

Hard to believe I look back fondly on those days now! I just remember that most had gone home before we could have the reactor shut-down.

 

[WDeanN]

zog, eleceng - "Real Subs"??
And the Blue Crew did their own work, thank you!

SSBN-734 - Blue Crew

 

[Zogzog]

Yep, attack subs, 1 crew, 1 screw, 1 bottle of ketchup.

Boomer crews do thier own work until something breaks and then the smurfs from TRF come down and replace the MG bearings or whatever.

 

[bacon4life]

We had been working on a project to add shore power for container ships in the port to reduce emissions, but the economic slowdown has put that on hold for a while. I wasn't involved in the rates portion, but I sure wonder what it was going to cost to provide infrastructure for 2-10 MW services that are only used intermittently.

The Grand Princess (one of the largest cruise ships) has 69 MW of ship service generators, so it definitely isn't a small project to provide them service.

 

[Zogzog]

Keep in mind that in port load requirements will be a small fraction of steaming load requirements.

 

[bacon4life]

The Grand Princess has two 21 MW propulsion units in addition to the six 11.5 MW ship service units.