Swiss marine power company WinGD has signed a frame agreement with Panasia of South Korea to upgrade X-DF dual-fuel LNG engines in service with the latest emissions abatement and fuel efficiency technology from WinGD.
The agreement is intended to support ship operators in reducing their cost exposure to maritime carbon pricing, keeping existing vessels competitive for longer.
Panasia is a well-established marine technology developer and already acts as a system integrator for several shipyards. Its technical capabilities and understanding of specific vessel configurations will support WinGD in delivering retrofit projects that offer a good return on investment through lower fuel consumption and reduced emission compliance costs.
WinGD is the original designer of an engine platform that is under continuous development. Using its supplier and project partner network, WinGD says it can provide a one-stop-shop for fuel conversions and energy efficiency upgrades, helping engine users to improve efficiency, reduce emissions and optimise operational costs.
WinGD Head of Retrofit and Upgrade Solutions René Baart said: “Korea has been the biggest market for X-DF engines since they were introduced in 2016. It was therefore natural that we start here as we aim to upgrade our installed base to the latest efficient technologies. We are delighted to have found a partner, in Panasia, with so much expertise in the equipment and system integration of both Chinese and Korean built vessels.”
The partnership will initially focus on solutions that allow X DF engines already installed on vessels to deliver the same fuel consumption, emissions and low methane slip as WinGD’s latest newbuild engines. Retrofit options include intelligent control by exhaust recycling (iCER) and variable compression ratio (VCR) technology, effectively converting X-DF engines to X-DF2.0 engines.
While iCER uses exhaust recycling to improve combustion stability when using LNG, VCR technology increases fuel efficiency by automatically optimising compression ratio depending on the fuel used and engine load. When combined, iCER and VCR technologies can reduce methane slip to around 0.7% of fuel gas volume—a more than twofold reduction compared to first-generation X-DF engines. Alongside significant fuel consumption reductions, improved methane slip significantly reduces the cost of compliance with European and proposed IMO regulations.
Panasia Head of Sales division Joseph Ohg said: “This agreement builds on our strong system integration capabilities developed through supporting newbuild projects, and will allow us to deliver X-DF upgrades alongside our current ballast water treatment, scrubber and other retrofits for existing vessels. In partnership with WinGD we are looking forward to revisiting many of those vessels to ensure they can benefit from the advantages of cutting-edge dual-fuel LNG technology.”
WinGD and Panasia are already engaged in retrofit discussions with multiple ship owners. WinGD has already completed the first retrofit of its VCR technology on a vessel operated by CMA CGM, with strong initial results presented at CIMAC World Congress in June.
Image: WinGD and Panasia representatives at the official signing of the agreement (source: WinGD)
