First sale for Norsepower Flettner rotor

The Finnish engineering company had already recorded a 2.5% reduction in fuel consumption after installing the first rotor – a spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind power for propulsion – on the 9,700 dwt vessel early last year. The results were derived from a three-month trial, in largely calm weather conditions, using data analysis and verification from software and services provider NAPA.

After installing the second sail, NAPA has confirmed a total 6.1% reduction in fuel consumption. The emissions reduction is equivalent to 1,2000 tonnes of CO2 a year. The sails were effective for around 80% of the vessel’s sailing time, according to Jouni Salo, product manager shipping solutions at NAPA. They provided an average propulsion boost of 460kW and peaked, for around 10% of the sailing time, at 1.5MW.

In related news, Norsepower has received a €3 million investment from a syndicate led by venture capital fund Power Fund III, a clean technology venture fund managed by VNT Management. The technology company attributed its ability to attract financial backing to the verification of fuel consumption savings using NAPA’s software, ClassNK-NAPA Green.

Tuomas Riski, CEO of Norsepower, said: “Since delivering our first proven application with Bore last year, our business has grown from strength to strength. Objective data and impartial verification of the fuel savings delivered by the technology has been absolutely critical to this evolution and will remain central to the way in which we work with shipowners and operators.”