AYK Energy has installed and run sea trials on the largest marine battery ever to be fitted to a vessel.

The company installed the 12 megawatt-hour (MWh) Orion+ battery into Guillaume de Normandie, the hybrid electric ferry built for Brittany Ferries. This follows the installation of an identical system aboard its sister vessel Saint-Malo, carried out at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard Weihai. With sea trials now concluded, Guillaume de Normandie is en route to Britain, where it will serve the Portsmouth–Caen route. Meanwhile, Saint-Malo is set to commence operations on the Portsmouth–St Malo route, with its first scheduled sailing this month.

AYK Energy’s founder, Chris Kruger, lauded the company’s success in manufacturing and installing the two largest marine batteries ever built for two ships simultaneously.