Go(ne)ing with the wind: 40 ships to have wind propulsion installed by the end of 2022

Wind-assisted ship propulsion has immense potential for achieving fuel savings and cutting emissions.

Even though it is not believed to be THE solution for full decarbonization of the industry and getting to net-zero, it has emerged as an intermediary step which, when combined with other available solutions like air bubbles, anti-fouling, and different software solutions for performance optimization, can achieve significant fuel consumption and GHG emission cuts.

There are several solutions on the market that have been commercialized or are in advanced stage of research and development such as rotor sails, rigid or soft sails to ventilated foil systems and kites.

According to the International Windship Association (IWSA), retrofit wind-assist solutions can deliver 5-20% of the power requirement, and thus the savings in fuel, with the potential to reach 30%. An optimised newbuild vessel has an even greater potential for savings, because wind can be used as the primary source of propulsion.

Even though the 21-century solutions rely upon the science from ancient times a great deal, this time around the efficiencies gained from advanced aerodynamics are coupled with computer technology and can be tracked, measured, and optimized in real-time.

Most importantly, these solutions are fully automated.

When opting for wind propulsion, there are multiple considerations to be made, including wind conditions in a specific trade-route area which can be monitored and traced with the assistance of weather routing technology.

Wind-assisted propulsion can be implemented on a wide range of ships that have a clear deck area, such as ferries, car carriers, bulk carriers and tankers, while containerships are more difficult to retrofit for the majority of these solutions.

Another key advantage is that the current cargo vessel hull forms are suitable for rotor sails and kite rigs, while ships with tall masts are the ones requiring special hull designs, as explained by DNV GL.

The majority of the technology available today is rather easy to install, doesn’t take much time to install, requires low maintenance, and does not depend on alterations to port infrastructure. Nevertheless, the uptake of the technology has been rather slow within the shipping industry.

Offshore Energy-Green Marine spoke with Gavin Allwright, Secretary
of IWSA, to find out why was this the case.

“This is a very simple question, but with a multifaceted answer,” Allwright explains.

“First the premise of the question – slow uptake. Of course, we would like things to be going faster, however, we will have 14 large vessels in operation by the end of the year (from small general cargo vessels to a VLCC, and that should have risen to over 40 vessels by the end of 2022 just with current orders and declared projects.

“If we were to compare that with the uptake of LNG in the shipping industry, which is backed massively by segments of the industry and governments, the uptake of wind propulsion is actually moving faster.”

These are predominantly retrofits which account for 80 percent of the projects, while newbuilds account for the remaining 20 percent.

IWSA is working on helping accelerate the uptake of wind propulsion solutions within the industry, promoting best practices, and securing funding. It has been involved in the development of a network of wind propulsion regional hubs, comprising IWSA Europe – Atlantic, IWSA Europe North Sea and Baltic, North America, Asia, and South Pacific.

The association was also involved in the Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion (WASP) and WISP Joint Industry Project launched last year.

Allwright admits things are moving slower than needed, due to a number of reasons:

• Price – the cost of the installation, the cost of fuel and ROI’s
• Perception – the look, the reversion to an old form of propulsion and the fact that a wind rig is the single most visible change you can make to a vessel
• Provision – until recently there were not enough providers of technology, these weren’t proven and there were not three points of reference for comparison sake.
• And finally, and maybe most importantly, politics & policy.

When it comes to the financial aspect of the wind-powered propulsion systems, the sector has been highly dependant on government funding that supported innovation. The EU has led the way, but Asia and the U.S. (California) have made some financial support available to wind-assisted propulsion innovation as well.

On the other hand, the sector is competing against an untaxed, non-carbon levied fossil fuels industry that is massively directly and indirectly subsidized.

However, the good news is that with the growing maturity of the technology and ramping up of production the solutions are becoming more commercially viable.

The perception was another issue that took a while to change, as ship owners refrained from installing different ‘contraptions and rigs’ aboard their ships.

“Wind propulsion goes against a century of fuel dependency, a new paradigm of wind propulsion + operation change + vessel optimisation could easily deliver 60-70% of the decarbonisation required. But wind can’t easily be commodified, it is delivered free at the point of use and doesn’t require any new infrastructure – so where are the finance streams for investors here past the provision of the tech systems themselves?” IWSA Secretary adds.

There has been a considerable focus on alternative fuels as the way forward for decarbonization, especially in the context of ammonia and hydrogen.

This emphasis is no surprise, having in mind that major players in the shipping industry are the energy majors and this is their playing field.

Even though there are a few frontrunners in the industry when it comes to new fuels, the infrastructure for making these fuels widely produced and available is a long road ahead.

Another point to have in mind is the fact that the production cost of these fuels is pretty high. Therefore, the ability of the industry to drive these costs down will also be one of the factors determining their uptake.

“Wind propulsion will help facilitate these costly alternatives by reducing the requirement, extending ship range so they can go further between bunkering and even the option to generate fuel onboard using the excess wind,” Allwright said.

The first step toward incentivizing greater uptake of wind-assisted propulsion would be the removal of all indirect and direct subsidies and creating a level playing field for all alternatives on the market.

“A full lifecycle analysis needs to be mandatory for all alternative fuel developments, upstream and downstream emissions and also opportunity cost and the impact on paradigm change needs to be assessed,” IWSA Secretary points out.

“For example, if we are using subsidized alternative fuels in the future, are we building an unsustainable fleet not fit for purpose, rather than a flexible, modular designed fleet capable of changing with trade patterns, new fuels, and operational profiles?”

Allwright believes that a greater shift to wind is already happening with the growing membership of IWSA which has already attracted three major shipping companies as members (MOL, K-line, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs) and two class societies (Bureau Veritas and Class NK), with more likely to join this year.

“We are also seeing increased interest at the IMO and EU levels along with numerous national governments that are investing innovation funding into wind propulsion projects, so I would say we are just leaving the launching pad and all systems are go,” he added.

Some of the most recent projects involving the installation of wind-assisted propulsion on board ships saw the first-ever installation of eConowind Ventifoil wind-assist system on board MV Ankie of Jan van Dam Shipping in January 2020 at the Royal Niestern Sander shipyard.

The wind-assist system was developed over the past three years supported by an EU backed grant. 

The modular Ventifoil units are in the form of wings with vents and an internal fan that use boundary layer suction for maximum effect. This installation features two, 10-meter wings generating significant force allowing the vessel to reduce motor power and thus save energy. In a second step, the units will be extended by a further six meters.

The 3,600 DWT general cargo vessel MV Ankie, made its first voyage with the two wings installed, sailing for Wagenborg from Delfzijl to Hamburg, onwards to Norway and then back to Rotterdam.

eConowind has since been contracted to install two of their wind-assist VentiFoil units on one of Boomsma Shipping’s vessels.

This content is available after accepting the cookies.

Change cookie-settings View on Youtube.

In late May, Finnish auxiliary wind propulsion systems’ provider Norsepower installed its rotor sail solution on board Scandlines’ hybrid ferry M/V Copenhagen in just a few hours.

The rotor sail unit measures 30 meters in height and 5 meters in diameter.

The rotor sail is fully automated and detects whenever the wind is strong enough to deliver fuel and emission savings, at which point it starts automatically.

It is a modernised version of the Flettner rotor, a spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind power to thrust a ship.

It can be fitted on both new ships and those already in operation.

This content is available after accepting the cookies.

Change cookie-settings View on Youtube.

The installation is the fourth one to be completed by Norsepower. The company forecasts the solution would cut emissions by 4-5% on average without compromising pre-retrofit speed and voyage times.

Norsepower estimates that if its rotor sail solutions were implemented across the global fleet, covering around 25,000 eligible ships, the CO2 emissions of the global fleet would be reduced by up to 70 megatons per year-which equals roughly to 7 percent of the shipping’s total emissions.

Another exciting project is the upcoming installation of Airseas’ automated power kite aboard one of K-line’s bulk carriers.

The first installation on a Capesize ship is scheduled for the end of 2021, and the demonstration project will pave the way for potential installation up to 50 automated 1000 sqm kites.

The kite, named Seawing, is a large piece of folded tissue that is lifted at the top of the 35-meter high mast mounted on the bow of the vessel.

The kite, based on parafoil technology, tows the commercial ship forward saving more than 20% fuel and CO2 emissions, according to its developer.

This content is available after accepting the cookies.

Change cookie-settings View on Youtube.

Airseas’ technology promises to reduce the environmental footprint of a Capesize vessel by 5,200 tons of CO2 per year depending on the vessel voyage route.

Maersk Tankers was among the first industry majors eager to test the potential of the rotor sails aboard its ships as a decarbonization tool.

Two sails were installed onboard Maersk Pelican in August 2018, achieving on average 8.2% in savings over a one-year period.

The Finnish developer of the technology, Norsepower, explained that this was equivalent to approximately 1,400 tonnes of CO2. 

Speaking during a last week’s webinar hosted by Blue Communications Maersk’s chief technical officer Tommy Thomassen said that the technology yielded the expected savings over the test period.

“Our theoretical calculations showed the potential savings from the technology to be in the range of 7 and 10 percent. Therefore, the savings we achieved what was definitely within that range. “

“At Norsepower we have a simulation software which can simulate any trade and which can make a trace-back simulation with the actual wind statistics we collect on board. So we compare the performance with our simulation model against the actual savings and results. In this case, there was perfect harmony between our simulation model and Loyd’s Register’s validation,” Tuomas Riski, CEO, Norsepower, said during the webinar.

Some of the teething problems in the trial included the ship not always being on the most favorable routes coupled with lower than average wind speeds on the routes.

The ship was sailing on routes in Far East Asia, which was far from optimal when it comes to wind conditions, and afterward more on transocean voyages which helped boost the numbers later on. During this time, the technology was used 50% of the time in line with weather conditions.

However, a ship like Maersk Pelican sailing on a different route, like a North-Atlantic crossing from Rotterdam to New York, for example, would have the potential to achieve up to a 20% cut in fuel consumption, according to Riski.

There are different areas to boost these figures aside to routing, including positioning of the rotors, increasing the number of rotors installed as well as the efficiency of the rotors.

“We have recently added different sizes to the Rotor Sail portfolio, offering five different model sizes to ensure the optimal dimensions for different vessel types and applications. Additionally, to enable installation onboard vessels that have air draft limitations (due to cargo handling or bridges), we have developed a tilting system, which can be used to lower the Rotor Sails to a horizontal position,” Riski told out publication.

“We continue to make important incremental design improvements, which combined will improve its efficiency and success. The key limitations are the technical and economic aspects of manufacturing and transportation process as bigger units often provide better results and performance but transporting this huge technology remains a challenge in itself.”

Commenting on the business case for the rotor sails, the payback period for the technology for LR2 types of ships is expected to range between 4 and 9 years, according to Norsepower’s CEO.

“The shipping industry has been built on tradition and adopting new technology takes time as it is important for ship owners to have seen tangible examples of the technologies in commercial action. To dedicate significant investment in technology, there needs to be an assurance of the payback and the results,” Riski told Offshore Energy-Green Marine.

“With examples such as the installation of two Rotor Sails on board the Maersk Pelican, and the independent results from Lloyd’s Register, we now have tangible case studies of the benefits of utilising Rotor Sails within the industry and these successful installations builds confidence in the safe investment of clean technology – not only cutting emissions but also reducing fuel costs.”

This is also the case due to low fuel prices on the market, which undermine the financial aspects of the investment.

However, Maersk’s chief technical officer pointed out that the return on investment was not the key driving force for Maersk Tankers in studying the technology, but rather its decarbonization potential.

“It is more than just fuel costs as it is hugely important to save CO2. We want to drive the CO2 emission reduction and we believe this particular technology has a huge potential and one of the biggest potentials for retrofits we can see out there. This is why we are doing it, ” he added.

Commenting on rotor sails’ high dependency on wind speeds and potential impact on Maersk Pelican’s eligibility on spot markets, Thomassen said that Maersk had no lost opportunities or negative impact on its business due to the installation of the rotor sails on its tanker. As such, he doesn’t believe it should be a problem at least not for larger ships.

Moving further, Thomassen said the focus is on making rotor sails “off-the-shelf “ready.

“We are working closely together with Norsepower in order to push that and have the sails available as soon as possible. The trick is also making this a commercially viable product and we are working together on that as well,” he added.

“We are also working within the industry itself on showing what the technology is capable of and having more people join the bandwagon.”

Massive production of rotor sails and other wind-assisted propulsion technologies is not hindered from a technical point of view. However, it requires financing and sufficient demand to emerge in order to make economic sense.

“Sales leads have developed well since we were able to confirm and share the very strong performance results from the Maersk Pelican, and we will continue to install Rotor Sails on a variety of vessels, showcasing the benefits on a wide range of vessel types and shipping routes. We continue having positive conversations with shipowners, charterers, and shipyards following our successes, and are taking steps to study the technical and economic feasibility of wind propulsion on a variety of new projects,” Riski added.

Allwright expects the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the global economies to have a short term impact on the decarbonization efforts.

“However, this isn’t going away, and with wind propulsion, you have the technology ready to go, or coming through the pipeline now.

“I think one of the real game-changers will be the use of leasing and pay-as-you-save finance models, transferring high CAPEX expenditure through to OPEX – this provision is starting to develop.“

Specifically, the sector is witnessing an uptick in interest for providing leasing and pay-as-you-save models from investors around the world.

“Low fuel prices are of course challenging, a level around $600/t bring many of the systems into the 3-4 year ROI area, but please remember that for any medium to long-term strategic investment outlook, you must be looking at the cost of systems at unit 10 or preferably unit 100, not at unit 1, where price is always high,” Allwright added.

Commenting on the impact of the COVID-19 and the collapse of fuel prices Riski said that the drop in fuel prices has roughly doubled the payback periods for fuel-saving investments.

“We expect that the low fuel prices will be a short-term phenomenon and in the long term, the development of carbon pricing, married with CO2 taxes or emissions trading – in addition to IMO GHG emissions targets for 2030 and 2050 – will considerably improve the market for environmental technologies such as Rotor Sails.

“COVID-19 has delayed some decisions regarding potential installations due to investments being scrutinised. However, many companies are committed to the importance of environmental sustainability and Rotor Sails not only improve environmental performance but also improve financial performance

“For a vessel burning 25 tonnes of fuel a day, even at a low price of $350 per tonne that is utilised 75% of the time, this equates to a saving of $1,750 per day, or $480,000 per annum,” he added.

With the shift in the perception prompted by the IMO 2050 targets and ramping up of production, the key question now is how does the sector scale up?

One of the key things for IWSA is continuing to engage with the industry to highlight the potential of wind propulsion.

“A lot of decarbonization pathways don’t class wind propulsion as a significant factor but rather as an ‘extra’ element. However, we believe that if wind propulsion can cut a quarter or a third of the sector’s entire greenhouse gas emissions, equaling up to 1 pct of global GHG emissions, that is a very significant technology. We have to change that perception,” Allwright concludes.