Backgrounder: Gov't of Canada Supports UVic's World-First "Green" Ship

The University of Victoria’s “new” research ship was formerly known as the Tsekoa II (pronounced “Se-ko-uh”). Ownership was recently transferred to UVic from Fisheries and Oceans Canada where it was used for maintenance and fishery patrols by the Canadian Coast Guard.

The Tsekoa II was built in 1985 by Allied Shipbuilders of Vancouver for Public Works Canada, which used it to support the construction, maintenance and repair of buoys, docks and other structures in small harbours along the BC coast. It was sold to the Canadian Coast Guard in the early 1990s.

The ship will be used by UVic for coastal research on changing ocean ecosystems, marine resources of coastal BC, and continental shelf dynamics. It will also service UVic’s world-leading Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) Observatory (made up of the VENUS and NEPTUNE Canada cabled networks) using the ROPOS remotely operated vehicle.

The ship is currently 26.7 metres long and 7.25 metres wide at the beam. For the refit, the ship will be cut in half and a new section will be inserted at mid-ship to bring the total length to 36.6 metres. This new section will include a science lab and additional berths to accommodate 15 crew and scientists.

The ship will be equipped with A-frames, winch pads and cranes for deploying plankton nets, scientific instruments and remotely operated vehicles. A portable multi-beam sonar system will allow high-resolution mapping of the seafloor. The rear deck will also feature a customized “wet lab” that will be built into a shipping container that can be craned on and off the ship as necessary.

The refit will transform the vessel into the world’s first plug-in hybrid “green ship” powered by electricity, hydrogen fuel cells and low-emission diesel fuel. Innovative power management software will optimize the use of the ship’s generators and batteries during high-demand, long-distance cruising or submersible operations.

This green technology will reduce carbon emissions, enhance the ship’s fuel efficiency and provide high-quality electric power to the research equipment onboard. It will also permit acoustically sensitive research operations—such as marine mammal observations or studies of sound in the ocean— without requiring power from noisy diesel engines.

The new green ship technology is a collaboration between UVic’s green transportation research team in the Faculty of Engineering and BC’s marine engineering and alternative power system sectors. The ship will be a floating testbed for this new hybrid technology and is expected to open new niche markets in the marine sector.

The refitting contract will go out for bids in 2011. It is hoped that the ship will be relaunched and in service by late 2012. Its new name has not yet been determined.

The ship will be a regional facility, serving the needs of researchers from UVic and four partner institutions—the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver Island University and the University of Alberta. When not in use by these institutions, the ship will be available for charter by other university and government researchers.

Funding for the refit has been provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund, Western Economic Diversification Canada, and industry partners.

The University of Victoria is a national and international leader in the study of the oceans, with expertise in areas as far-ranging as ocean-climate interactions, ocean observation systems, physical and chemical oceanography, marine ecology, coastal resource management and ocean engineering.