Wind, sun and waves the powers that will rule seas

Australian
Thursday 18/6/2009 Page: 3

LAST month, Sydney firm Solar Sailor Holdings and naval architect Alastair Callender unveiled the design for what they said would be the world's first green super yacht, a 58m yacht powered by wind and sun as well as Solar Sailor's hybrid marine power technology.

According to Solar Sailor chief executive Robert Dane, the $33 million yacht will be able to store renewable energy in its batteries, which can power onboard electrics without the need or the noise of a generator, and to run at nearly eight knots on solar energy alone. "You could take 12 people around the world in a quiet environment, with low to no fumes, never have the generator running at night and even feed into the grid at the marina," Dane says.

Solar Sailor created its first solar vessel in time for the Sydney Olympics and it has been in use since by Captain Cook Cruises, as well as acting as its research and development vessel. In November the company will launch the first of four vessels being built in China for the Hong Kong ferry authority, and it is helping design drone vessels for the US military that will use a combination of solar, wind and wave power.

The attraction of the super yacht market, says Dane, is that about 600 super yachts of 30m or more are built each year and a green yacht could be the ultimate statement of sustain ability for the rich. These wealthy clients also tend to be captains of industry who will invest in such technology in the future. The international shipping market is recognised as a highly efficient and crucial transport system for ferrying goods across the globe, but it is also one of the most heavily polluting.

International shipping is estimated to produce more than twice the greenhouse emissions of the aviation sector, as well as substantial amounts of sulphur and nitrogen oxides from the bunker fuel used in the mostly slow-running two-stroke engines. Because of shipping's international nature, and the flags of convenience, ships' emissions are poorly regulated and poorly controlled.

There are efforts announced by the International Maritime Organisation to reduce SOx and NOx emissions, and planned reductions for greenhouse emissions are expected to follow soon. However, emission reduction technologies as they apply to the shipping industry are capital intensive and may increase overall fuel costs, which is why Solar Sails and others are confident that alternative technologies such as renewables will provide the answer.

Dane says the ferries developed by his company can reduce fuel consumption by up to 30%, particularly in areas where the ferry moves at low speed. In Hong Kong, the savings will be greater because at low speed the ferries will be able to travel under silent renewable power only and could approach areas previously prohibited to them because of their noisy, polluting engines. That could cut down routes by nearly one-third.

He says such reductions could be contemplated in bulk carriers and tankers as well. Last year, the company signed a deal with China's biggest shipping line, Cosco, to retrofit ships with solar energyed sails the size of the wings of a jumbo jet. The sails are covered with photovoltaic panels that can meet some of the ship's energy needs and harness the wind to reduce fuel costs by up to 40%.

Meanwhile, Hamburg-based SkySails is developing an alternative wind propulsion system that it says can reduce fuel costs for cargo vessels by 10% to 35%, or up to 50% for short periods under optimal wind conditions. SkySails' towing kite is being tested on two cargo ships belonging to the shipping lines Wessels and Beluga Shipping. Commercial production of its sails will begin later this year.

Its clients also include the Norwegian shipping company Wilson, which will install a 160sqm kite on the MV Wilson Grip, an 88m-long cargo vessel with a deadweight of 3700 tonnes. Sky Sails says its product could generate up to eight tonnes of tractive force for the ship, which usually needs about 11 tonnes of thrust to reach its cruising speed of 11 knots.

SkySails says kites with an effective load of 32 tonnes should be available in 2011 and models that have an effective load of up to 130 tonnes are planned. It says that nearly two-thirds of the world's estimated 100,000 cargo ships could be retro-fitted with its wind propulsion system. Solar Sails' Dane says although the shipping industry is perhaps 10 years behind the land transport industry in embracing alternative fuel and technologies, he envisages a day when all ships will be driven by renewable energy before becoming completely electric.

As fuel prices rise, and the cost and price of technology comes down because of economies of scale, I can see more sun, wind and ocean energy being used," he says. "And the second thing that will happen in conjunction with this is that the propulsion systems will move to electric propulsion." This will begin with a hybrid electric system, then move to an electric motor that runs off electric storage, be it a battery system or a hydrogen cell system. The advantage of the shipping industry, as opposed to aviation or land transport, is that potential weight issues associated with such systems are not a problem. It simply can be used as ballast.