Kongsberg and Norsepower join forces for rotor sail integration in maritime industry

Norwegian Kongsberg Maritime (KM) and Finnish Norsepower have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate the integration of auxiliary wind propulsion to new and existing vessels in diverse maritime markets.

Under the MoU, the industry leaders will collaborate to add wind propulsion to KM’s integrated power and propulsion systems.

As disclosed, ship owners and shipyards will be able to choose between fully integrated systems, or solutions incorporating stand-alone products.

KM already offers integrated equipment packages comprising propellers, power management, energy optimisation, propulsion drive train products, power take-off and take in (PTO/PTI) systems, and energy storage.

According to the company, the collaboration with Norsepower will help KM add wind propulsion to its portfolio of strategies to facilitate greener operations, aided by its controllable pitch propeller (CPP) solutions, which can manage the variable power delivered by rotor sail systems.

“There is an increasing demand for the use of modern wind propulsion in shipping, and we are excited to work with Norsepower to deliver this. Together we will offer support to shipowners and shipyards looking for the most efficient and effective ways of applying rotor sail technology and collaborate on new ship designs to integrate these technologies and improve energy efficiency overall”, said Oskar Levander, SVP Business Concepts, KM.

Said to be the first third-party verified and commercially operational auxiliary wind propulsion technology for the global maritime industry, the Norsepower rotor sail solution is fully automated and detects whenever the wind is strong enough to deliver fuel and emission savings, at which point the rotor sails start automatically.

As reported, so far, Norsepower has completed six installations, including the installation of five tilting rotor sails on a bulker.

According to Norsepower’s CEO Tuomas Riski, this partnership will help fast-track optimising operations for shipowners and yards developing complete solutions as the pressure to decarbonise the shipping industry intensifies.

“Current savings of between 5-25% could be further improved with KM’s advanced automation systems, efficient propulsion and other novel design solutions”, added Riski.