Smart Green Shipping secures $1.3 million funding injection to decarbonize shipping with wind-assisted technology

British renewable energy business Drax Group and compatriot systems design house Smart Green Shipping (SGS) have united efforts to develop and put into use ecologically responsible wind-assisted ‘FastRig’ technology, all with the aim of positively contributing to the decarbonization of the country’s shipping sector.

As informed, Drax has set aside £1 million (circa $1.3 million) for this initiative, matched by government funding from the UK’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) grant—one of the first initiatives from the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE), a unit launched to help the country’s maritime sector become ‘greener’.

The project between SGS and Drax will see SGS’s FastRig – a lightweight, retractable wingsail – installed on a vessel to demonstrate how this technology could improve fuel consumption and cut down on emissions. As per SGS, an earlier feasibility study done with Drax showed the potential fuel savings of ships fitted with FastRig could go up to 30% per year on transatlantic routes, with the expected emissions reduction matching that percentile.

SGS is presently performing sea trials of FastRig on one of Nuclear Transport Solution’s (NTS) specialist vessels, the Pacific Grebe. The trials are anticipated to conclude by the end of October 2024.

“Wind is abundant, free, and exclusively available to any ship equipped to use it. The first commercial installation of FastRig is incredibly exciting and an important milestone as we derisk the transition to wind for the whole shipping ecosystem,” Diane Gilpin, CEO and founder of SGS, highlighted.

SGS started on-land testing of FastRig earlier this year at Hunterston PARC in Scotland, whereas the Pacific Grebe is part of on-sea testing and demonstration. In fact, it has been reported that NTS was ‘the first nuclear operator in the world’ to install and trial this new sail technology to reduce its carbon footprint.

If the latest demonstration is successful, SGS has emphasized that work to install the technology on a commercial biomass vessel could finally begin. The overarching goal, the company added, would be helping to decarbonize this hard-to-abate sector by further reducing supply chain emissions from the bulk transport of Drax’s sustainable biomass—believed to produce around 8% of Britain’s renewable power.

In May this year, Drax signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japanese companies NYK Line, NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers (NBP) and Tsuneishi Shipbuilding to engineer the ‘world’s first’ biomass-fueled ship (bioship) and the technology that could power it.

As per NYK, the installation of a biomass fuel plant has the potential to lead to a 22% reduction in well-to-wake carbon emissions in bioships especially when compared to fossil fuels. If this project wraps up as envisioned, the companies are reportedly slated for a joint study into the possibility of constructing a bioship by the end of 2029.

In addition to this, as part of its efforts to go carbon-negative by 2023, Drax is reportedly looking into installing bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) at the Drax Power Station in Yorkshire, England.

As explained, this power station is already relying on sustainable mass rather than coal, with the application of BECCs possibly and permanently removing up to eight million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere each year.

The renewable energy business’s investment in the project is planned to be used to develop SGS’s wind-assisted solutions, SGS has confirmed.

This includes FastRoute, a digital system co-created with the University of Southhampton that combines artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing to analyze weather data and optimize routes for vessels equipped to harness wind power.

SGS accentuated that the benefit of this, just as certain studies have shown, is best seen in the fact that optimized weather routes may ‘greatly’ reduce fuel usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

To remind, stemming from former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s 10-point plan to tackle carbon emissions, the CMDC grant officially opened up its third round in September 2022 with an expected wrap-up date in March 2025. As disclosed, it has allocated £60 million to 19 projects to deliver technology and system demonstrations.

The fourth round commenced in 2023, with the same projected end date as the third, featuring £33 million in funding for demonstrations, pre-deployment trials and feasibility studies in clean maritime solutions. This round’s bidding commenced in April this year.

“Reducing shipping emissions is vital if we’re going to decarbonize the sector and achieve our mission of becoming a Clean Energy Superpower. It’s fantastic to see Government funding making a difference, and we will continue to support the UK industry to deliver a cleaner, greener sector and develop the smart technologies of the future,” said the UK’s Maritime Minister, Mike Kane.