Page 13: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 2014)

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RoRo vessels and can be installed on newbuilds or retrofi tted to existing ships.

According to Tuomas Riski, CEO and partner of Norsepower Oy Ltd., there are presently more than 20,000 merchant vessels worldwide that are suitable for retrofi t of the Norsepower Rotor Sail So- lution and can benefi t from its reduced fuel consumption.

Sea tests will begin later this year on

Bore’s Finnish-fl agged 9,700 dwt RoRo ship M/V Estraden after the completion of land-based testing on an assembled prototype of the Norsepower Rotor Sail at the developer’s facility in Naantali,

Finland. “Norsepower aims at being the fi rst company to have an industrially piloted and certifi ed auxiliary wind propulsion product, which is delivered as a ready- made solution,” Riski explained. “The pilot project with Bore is a signifi cant step on our path towards the market leadership of cargo vessel auxiliary wind propulsion systems.”

Håkan Modig, CEO of Bore Ltd. said, “Bore is in the forefront in using envi- ronmental and energy effi ciency solu- tions for sustainable shipping. To pilot such a system on our vessel M/V Es- traden is a natural step as we have sup- ported the project from the start. Also,

Bore is happy to encourage new entre- preneurs within this area in Finland and we are pleased to see that the project is ready for launch.”

Essential parts of the Rotor Sail Solu- tion include two or more rotor sail units installed on deck to deliver the forward thrust, wind and GPS sensors to provide the automation unit with real-time wind speed and direction information as well as ship speed and course data, control panel for the captain’s full control of the operation and performance of the Norse- power Rotor Sail Solution, an automa- tion unit for optimized forward thrust of the rotor sails and a power supply from the grid of the vessel to the electric mo- tors that power each rotor sail.

The required number of Norsepower

Rotor Sails and the size of each sail are based on the size, speed and operating profi le of each vessel. Norsepower Ro- tor Sails are available in three sizes with different heights of 18, 24 or 30 meters.

The Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution is typically delivered as a full-service so- lution that includes both delivery and maintenance of the hardware and soft- ware components. Norsepower said it has gathered nearly $3 million of fund- ing since its establishment in 2012 for the development, testing and piloting of the Rotor Sail Solution. Main investors behind Norsepower are Lifeline Ven- tures Oy, Finnvera Oyj and Wate Oy;

Norsepower is also funded by Tekes.

Norsepower’s website lists additional as partners ABB, Alandia Insurance,

Beckhoff Automation GmbH, Bore, Elo- matic, FY-Composites Oy, Lloyd’s Reg- ister Group Ltd., LST Group, Paramet,

SKF, SKS Group, Turku Repair Yard

Ltd., VAF Instruments, Vaisala and VTT

Technical Research Center. “Bore is in the forefront in using environmental and energy effi ciency solutions for sustainable shipping. To pilot such a system on our vessel M/V Estraden is a natural step as we have supported the project from the start.”

Håkan Modig, CEO of Bore Ltd.

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