Design of Operating Routes of Wave Energy Powered Electric Cargo Ships in Red Sea

Abstract

A theoretical design assessment performed here to evaluate the idea of utilizing wave energy in the Red sea to power electric-cargo ships, in the route between Port Sudan and Jeddah Islamic port. The calculated mean wave power in 2018 was (1.4 MW), five wave power stations was determined in the field depending on the travelling distance of ships batteries with depth of discharge 90% (75.01) km. The assessment used nine ships according to weekly-generated energy and suggested trips schedule (two trips per week). The battery-replacing technique used to exchange ships empty batteries with charged one to save the trip time, and a bunker fuel ship was assigned for batteries transporting between stations according to demand. The electric generation was individual without interconnecting cable between stations due to massive loss of that (16 MW). The calculated annual transported dry goods using this clean energy was 1.72 million ton. A brief economic analysis performed and concluded to start the project after 2020 with estimated annual profits 4.25 million dollar. The design found that it is promising to depend on wave power for supplying electric ships with energy, especially with the development in energy generation and storage technologies. Keywords-Renewable energy, wave energy, electric ship, red sea, lithium battery, Pelamis