Onboard Generator Plants: Improving the Optimum Operation From 36% To 92%

Why Nautilus?

Nautilus Labs was approached by an oil major to monitor and improve the operation of onboard generator plants to reduce fuel and maintenance costs as well as CO2 emissions. Leveraging Nautilus Platform, the client was able to improve the configuration of online generators required for a given power demand. Nautilus’s insights empowered the client to increase the optimal operation from 35.6% between December and February to 92.4% from March to May.

500MT of CO2 emissions saved

Nautilus analyzed the client’s operation of onboard generator plants and detected they ran only 35.6% optimal, which means that the number of online generators required to generate a required power was too high in this case. The suboptimal operation resulted in massive fuel waste, excess emissions, and increased maintenance spending. Nautilus Platform, fed by high frequency data, surfaced the most efficient configuration of online plants required for a given power demand. Comparing the period between December and February to the month between March and May, the client was able to optimize their generator usage from 35.6% to 92.4%. The change in plant efficiency resulted in net savings of $142,000, split into $43,000 in fuel savings and $99,000 in reduced maintenance costs. This corresponds with a reduction of 500MT in CO2 emissions over a short period of time, equivalent to taking 108 cars off the road for an entire year.

Multiple analyses have been conducted across the client’s wider fleet to increase overall efficiency and savings. Various optimized generator operations while on laden voyages have resulted in over 64% optimal configuration, up from 15% in the previous period. Nautilus takes into account client-specific requirements, such as excluding zones that require additional generators to run for vessel and crew safety. Users of Nautilus Platform receive alerts if their usage of generators exceeds the optimal operation to prevent fuel waste and maintenance cost.

Nautilus’s Generator Optimization

One way to reduce fuel consumption is by looking at the configuration of onboard generator plants. Monitoring their efficiency is only possible through the usage of high frequency data and a technology solution that can turn data into actionable insights. Historically, shipping businesses have not taken into account real-time power demands as a result of noon data being the only source of information and therefore were not able to increase their plant efficiency.

Nautilus builds proprietary models, using high frequency data, to optimize any onboard generator plant and alerts the crew and shoreside teams when generators are misconfigured. Nautilus’s clients have seen massive savings by leveraging Nautilus’s Generator Optimization.

To learn more about the solution, download the case study of a different client increasing their optimal run time by 77%.

500 MT

Of CO2 Saved

$43,000

Of Fuel Costs Saved

$99,000

Of Maintenance Costs Saved

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Onboard Generator Plants: Improving the Optimum Operation From 36% To 92%

Onboard Generator Plants: Improving the Optimum Operation From 36% To 92%

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