Bunker Saving Sail System for Cargo Ships Undergoes Testing

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday June 27, 2014

Finnish marine engineering company Norsepower Oy Ltd. (Norsepower) says it plans to begin selling a sail system to harness wind power as an auxiliary propulsion source for cargo ships.

The Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution is designed to let vessels throttle back their main engines when wind conditions are good, reducing fuel use and emissions.

Norsepower has begun land-based testing of a prototype of the system and expects to do sea tests on Bore's M/V Estraden later in the year.

The sails are intended to be capable of being installed on new ships or as retrofits to existing vessels.

"The Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution is appropriate for retrofitting to over 20,000 vessels in the global merchant fleet," said CEO Tuomas Riski.

"Norsepower aims at being the first company to have an industrially piloted and certified auxiliary wind propulsion product, which is delivered as a ready-made solution.

"The pilot project with Bore is a significant step on our path towards the market leadership of cargo vessel auxiliary wind propulsion systems."

Another wind-power technology being tested in the U.S. has been said to be able to reduce fuel costs for ferries by 20 to 40 percent.