EU Innovation Fund backs Stillstrom's first commercial offshore ship charger
What's the deal? Danish startup Stillstrom has been selected for a grant from the EU Innovation FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to build and install the first commercial Offshore eCharger, letting fully electric service operation vessels charge directly at offshore wind farms. The award is part of a €3.4Bn (US$3.8Bn) package for 77 net-zero projects, funded by revenue from the EU Emissions Trading System.
The fine print: The grant agreement is not yet finalised. The European CommissionDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has invited selected projects to begin preparations, with final amounts and timetables to be confirmed during that process. Reported charger capacity varies by source, cited as either 7.5 MVA or 8 MW.
What's the endgame? Service operation vessels act as floating bases for wind-farm technicians and account for 15-20% of a wind farm's lifecycle emissions. Replacing marine gas oil with electricity delivered from the turbines could almost entirely eliminate those emissions; Stillstrom says each unit could save more than 5.5 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent a year.
Why now? The company, a MaerskDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → spin-off founded in 2019, has moved steadily toward deployment. In August, DNVDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → witnessed an automated cable-control trial with EsvagtDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Semco MaritimeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and in November Stillstrom completed factory testing of its vessel connection unit, an 11 kV containerised package that can be fitted to newbuilds or retrofitted ships.
The grant follows €5m ($6m) in Horizon EuropeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → funding won in May for a separate 36-month pilot of an offshore power zone at Skagen, Denmark, where anchored vessels keep their engines running.
What could go wrong? The technology still needs integrated offshore trials and certification. Stillstrom expects extended trials by next summer but has not named a host wind farm or vessel operator, and a planned second design would push its semi-automatic alignment toward full automation.
The signal: The award backs a first commercial installation, not evidence of broad adoption. "This is about taking offshore power and charging out of the test phase and into commercial operation at a working wind farm," said chief executive officer Kristian Borum Jørgensen — a marker that offshore charging is edging from concept toward a viable tool for electrifying the wind sector's support fleet.
Read more: europesays.com
Image credit: Martin Cooper Ipswich
