Helsinki: Shipping’s inherent conservatism is holding it back from making the radical leap needed to harness renewable forms of power, contends Toumas Riski, the CEO of Finnish wind power specialist Norsepower in today’s Maritime CEO interview.
“The shipping industry is known to be very conservative, and it is hence not an easy task to bring a new radically different fuel saving technology to the market,” Riski says.
Norsepower has developed its Rotor Sail Solution (see image at bottom of text) which, under the right wind conditions, allows main engines to be throttled back, saving fuel and reducing emissions while providing the power needed to maintain speed and voyage time. Rotor sails can be used with new vessels or they can be retrofitted to existing ships.
According to Riski, Norsepower is the first company on the market with a proof of concept and a customer reference for its auxiliary wind propulsion technology.
The Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution is mainly designed for tankers, bulk carriers, roro vessels and ferries, but in practice it can be applied to any type of ship where the required installation space is available on deck, and where cranes and cargo handling equipment do not prevent the installation of rotor sails.
“I think that in the long term both minimised fuel consumption and low level of emissions will be crucial targets and great assets for all owners,” concludes Riski.
