Rosneft strengthens partnership with General Electric to develop and produce pod drives for arctic vessels
Rosneft, GE Energy Power Conversion Technology Ltd. and Sapphire Applied Engineering and Training Center LLC signed a License Agreement during the 6th Eastern Economic Forum for the use of Unified Technology of high ice-class pod drives with a capacity of 15 MW. According to Rosneft’s press release, the agreements will contribute to further localization of production of component equipment for ice-class marine vessels under construction at the Zvezda shipyard. Production of 7.5 MW pod drives has already been established at the site of Sapphire Pod Drive Plant LLC.
The Pod Drives are the key component of the ship power system. The developed Pod Drive design ensures high ice and maneuvering qualities of seagoing vessels during the navigation period along the Northern Sea Route and is designed for operation in severe ice conditions.
The 15 MW Pod Drive technology was developed by Sapphire Applied Engineering and Training Center in cooperation with GE Power Conversion France SAS within the framework of the joint R&D program of Rosneft and General Electric.
Implementation of the agreement will allow Rosneft to improve the efficiency of its offshore projects' business processes.
Strategic cooperation between Rosneft and General Electric began in 2013. To develop shipbuilding projects, the Sapphire Applied Engineering and Training Center (St. Petersburg) was established in 2015.
The Pod Drive development is one of the key tasks of the center that brings together many years of experience of Russian and foreign scientists in the design of ice-resistant structures, electric drive technologies and hydrodynamics.
In order to further implement the project at the site of Zvezda shipyard (town of Bolshoy Kamen), the Sapphire Pod Drive Plant was built. The enterprise is intended to become one of the world's leading manufacturers of ship propulsion systems. The Pod Drive line developed within the framework of the project became the first Russian technology in the field of azimuthal marine propulsion systems of high ice class.
