The road to an ocean-proof microgrid

When engineering the electrical backbone for a groundbreaking ship, you have to be open to trying some new things.

Sailing yacht Zero is the first vessel of its size to be powered by renewable energy, and this brings a unique challenge when it comes to developing its electrical systems. In fact, Marpower had to completely rethink marine power distribution from the ground up to meet the demands of this unique vessel.

Their solution centers around a highly advanced DC ring that acts as the ship's backbone, which they divided into eight distinct segments. The true game-changer of this system is a custom-developed, first-of-its-kind solid-state IGBT switch.

Because everything on the vessel is electric, the team can’t risk the entirety of power going out in case of a failure in one part of the system. This is where the IGBT switch comes into play.

If a failure occurs in any single segment, the switch immediately isolates the fault, allowing the rest of the ship's network to remain fully functional and protected. This provides unparalleled safety and redundancy for the vessel.

Want to know more about this innovative new project on Zero? Watch the video below.