ROHR-IDRECO Dredge Systems (Netherlands/USA, Germany, France) has just announced two new cutter suction dredge (CSD) models, the Hawk and Falcon, to its product line-up.
Group CEO, Fulco Vrooland Löb , said: “With our roots in the wet mining industry, we have been building electrical dredges for decades and have delivered well over 600 of these units worldwide, including close to a hundred in the United States. Traditionally, cutter suction dredgers used by the contractors were diesel driven. In the last few years however, we see more and more interest from contractors also looking into zero-emission electric dredge systems.”
Based on the company’s experience in this field, ROHR-IDRECO developed the Hawk CSD model (500 mm/20” pump) for up to 14 meter/45 feet, and the Falcon CSD for dredging up to 20 meters/65 feet with a 650 mm (26”) pump.
These dredges are, in all aspects, electrically driven, including the pump, cutter head, and winches, with an add-on diesel generator power unit installed onboard for when there is no access possible to the electrical grid.
Looking ahead to the future, these diesel generator power units can later also be replaced by for example hydrogen-based power systems or fuel cells.
“By taking out the mechanical and hydraulic drive systems, energy efficiency is significantly optimized even when the dredges are running on the diesel generators. Through the dual mode – link the dredge to the electrical grid when possible, run on diesel when not – these dredges can be put to work at both to traditional contract dredging projects, as well as to projects in sensitive or urban settings where zero emission operations are required,” added Mr. Vrooland Löb.
“The dredges are all equipped with ROHR-IDRECO’s own high-efficiency iPumps – submersible for the Falcon model and onwards. Spud carriers are included for the Hawk and Falcon, and for the Eagle model (35 meter/115 feet digging depth) a Christmas tree is used for typical mining applications.”
“The dredges are designed to be fully dismountable for easy of transportation worldwide, and assembled at our factory in Germany and in Houston TX for the US market, to comply with Jones Act requirements.”