Norway's Enova Pledges Over $16 Million in Support of Electric Autonomous Box Ship

Enova is set to contribute NOK 133.6 million toward the construction of Yara Birkeland. Image Credit: Yara

Yara today announced that Enova - a Norwegian government enterprise aimed at promoting environmentally friendly production and consumption of energy - is set to contribute NOK 133.6 million ($16.76 million) toward the construction of "the world's first" electric and autonomous container ship.

"The interest in autonomous transport is great, but at the same time many are skeptical and question the safety. The key contribution from this project is to demonstrate that autonomous and electric sea transport is feasible, and will deliver the results we want," said Nils Kristian Nakstad, CEO of Enova.

As Ship & Bunker has reported, Kongsberg Maritime AS (Kongsberg) and YARA are working in partnership to develop the vessel, which is known as Yara Birkeland.

Commenting on Enova's newly announced support, Svein Tore Holsether, Yara's CEO, said: "for the private sector, it is essential to have the government's support when we develop new technology and deliver bold innovations. It allows us to be daring and explore the unknown. The making of Yara Birkeland is an excellent example of a public-private partnership in practice.

Yara Birkeland is set to be initially operated as a manned vessel before moving to remote operation in 2019, and is expected to be capable of performing fully autonomous operations by 2020.

Earlier this month, KONGSBERG announced that it had signed a Research & Innovation (R&I) contract with PILOT-E for the development of zero-emission, full-electric, autonomous ferry concepts.

The PILOT-E programme is a joint initiative between the Norwegian Research Council, Innovasjon Norge, and Enova, and is intended to accelerate marketing of new technology concepts, while ensuring viable and sustainable solutions are produced.