H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, opened Gastech, the world’s foremost exhibition and conference supporting the gas, LNG, hydrogen, and energy industry. Held under the patronage of Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Gastech 2021 brought together 15,000 global industry professionals in person for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event ran until 23 September, WAM states.
Sheikh Hamdan said Dubai had adopted the highest global benchmarks for sustainable development with initiatives and projects that promote the use of clean and renewable energy resources. Advancing the use of environmentally-friendly energy sources is a high priority for the UAE, he noted. Dubai has created a unique model for an energy mix in which renewable energy resources play a major role in boosting development. This commitment reflects the UAE leadership’s keenness to adopt future-oriented solutions that can accelerate national progress, he added.
The Crown Prince also attended the opening ceremony of Gastech 2021, accompanied by H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy; and Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. The opening event featured a recorded speech of Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
Sheikh Hamdan also toured the exhibition, accompanied by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed; Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA); Helal Saeed Al Marri, Director General of the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority; and Eng. Dawood Abdul Rahman Al-Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality. He was briefed about the latest innovations and solutions in the natural gas, LNG, hydrogen, and energy industries during his tour.
Sheikh Hamdan noted that Dubai’s meetings, incentives, conferencing, and exhibitions (MICE) sector have seen an increased momentum of growth in the past few months. Dubai works as one team to ensure the highest global health and safety standards for exhibitors and visitors to events hosted by it, he said.
The three-day Gastech 2021 featured a strategic conference, and an industry-leading exhibition focused on providing a platform for the gas, LNG, hydrogen, and energy industry to engage face-to-face with the challenges of environmental agendas and leverage technology and new ways of working to match changing market requirements. The event also enabled senior decision-makers and industry thought leaders to share insights and knowledge on providing a carbon-neutral, affordable energy future for all by 2050.
Taking place over three days, the Gastech Strategic Conference brought together over 300 government ministers, energy industry leaders, policymakers, and key customers to map out a future low-emission landscape. Key topics to be discussed include decarbonization and emissions management; financing and project investment; adapting business models in a post-COVID world; integrated energy suppliers; gas and LNG supply and demand dynamics; the potential for hydrogen to play a key role during the energy transition; diversification of the future workforce; trading, contracting and pricing.
Simultaneously, the Gastech Technical Conference featured five learning streams – Hydrogen; Marine; EPC and Project; Processing and AI and Technology. The program will provide multiple opportunities for working professionals to learn from over 300 of the world’s leading energy engineers as they present the latest technological breakthroughs and market opportunities for the industry.
Also held alongside Gastech 2021 is the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE).
WinGD takes a holistic approach to marine decarbonization
Engine developer WinGD has developed an ecosystem of solutions around the main engine that is expected to enhance energy efficiency and enable a seamless transition to new fuels. These are the two keys to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in line with International Maritime Organisation’s ambitions.
During its participation at Gastech, from September 21 to 23 in Dubai, WinGD presented its range of solutions aimed at addressing the targets set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), GD Online reports.
WinGD’s solutions deploy digital vessel optimization and battery-hybrid energy systems to improve theits two-stroke engines’ergy efficiency and future fuel flexibility.
For instance, using LNG as a fuel in a low-pressure X-DF engine can reduce GHG emissions by around 20% compared to a conventional two-stroke engine burning heavy fuel oil. Combined with the new solutions, CO2 equivalent emissions can be reduced even further, taking vessels beyond IMO’s intermediate target of reducing carbon intensity by 40% by 2030.
“Our ecosystem approach to energy efficiency acknowledges that vessels today are complex power systems with the main engine at the heart of the integrated solution,” said Klaus Heim, CEO, WinGD.
“These systems, including our engines, are fully ready for the future fuels that will take ships much further than IMO’s target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2050,” he added.
The solutions include fuel flexibility and smart engine monitoring, combined with advanced electronic control and hybrid energy management systems. WinGD’s engine expertise means that it can integrate all elements of these complex systems optimally, including advising ship owners on the sizing and operation of hybrid energy sources such as batteries.
In a recent landmark project, WinGD integrated sustainability and efficiency enhancements through a hybrid energy system onboard four pure car and truck carriers ordered by Japanese-owned NYK Line.
The vessels will run on LNG, using WinGD’s 7X62DF-2.1 two-stroke engines coupled with shaft generators, DC links, and battery systems. WinGD has optimized spinning reserves, peak shaving, and energy flow to run the main engine at its sweet spot as much as possible while reducing the use of less efficient auxiliary engines.
The system will be managed by WinGD’s new Hybrid Control System. “Such integrated energy management plays a key role in our vision to power the energy transition in shipping,” said Heim.
Through WinGD’s progressive investments in future fuels, engine control, optimisation, and hybridisation, combined with the continued evolution of our core engine technology, these advances give ship owners certainty that they can meet long-range environmental targets with systems they can order today,” he added.
Underlying the new offering is WinGD’s Integrated Digital Expert (WiDE), a cutting-edge engine monitoring and optimization solution that is standard on all medium and large bore WinGD engines.
The monitoring and support capabilities work with a robust, modern control system, WinGD Integrated Control Electronics (WiCE), that meets the connectivity and security demands of future ship energy systems.
Combined with WinGD expert training for operators and a global service network, customers are now fully equipped to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
Speaking on digital solutions to enhance fuel efficiency and cut down on carbon emission, Eng Ibrahim Behairy, Managing Director of WINGD in the Middle East and Africa, said: “When we speak of decarbonization and the 2030 and 2050 targets set by the IMO for the shipping industry, we know for a fact that it is necessary that the sector itself begins to use low emission fuels, but what we also know for a fact is that low emission fuels alone will not be able to meet the set targets.
“In this regard, technology will surely play a vital role in ensuring the industry’s transition to a sustainable and an environmentally friendly one. Through our dual-fuelled two-stroke engines with enhanced intelligent cooling and exhaust recirculation capabilities have ensured a reduction in methane emissions, thus showcasing the advantages of digital solutions in terms of reducing shipping emissions.”
While developing a broader ecosystem of solutions, WinGD has continued to focus on the performance and sustainability of vessels powered by its engines. The advantages of dual-fuelled X-DF two-stroke series have been enhanced through the introduction of intelligent Cooling and Exhaust Recirculation (iCER), which cuts methane slip by around 50% as well as improving fuel consumption in both gas and diesel modes.
The X-DF engine can run on carbon-neutral fuels, including biogas or synthetic LNG, without engine modifications, preparing ship owners for the next stage in their transition to lower carbon operations. As the most widely deployed low-pressure dual-fuel technology in the marine two-stroke market, it is the ideal platform to build a future-ready energy system fit for the next generation of low-emission vessels.
The benefits of future fuel flexibility and potential hybridization are not limited to gas-fuelled engines. WinGD’s X engines are powered by liquid fuels, of which there are several emerging carbon-neutral or zero-carbon candidates, including bio-diesel and alcohol fuels.
The company has invested extensively in preparations to use these fuels, including leading European research into injection concepts. The core engine offering is constantly being developed to improve efficiency and flexibility, most recently with the addition of the first integrated, on-engine NOx abatement solution in the marine two-stroke engine market.
