Norsepower Starts Rotor Sail Sea Trials

Norsepower Oy, a Finnish marine engineering company, has announced that sea trials of the Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution have been started on a commercial cargo vessel, Bore’s M/V Estraden.

Norsepower’s 18-metre high Rotor Sail was installed on the pilot vessel during an ordinary 7-hour harbor stay. The installation was completed quickly because the required foundations were already added to the vessel during a normal dry-dock stay last year. Norsepower is the first company to bring a modern auxiliary wind propulsion system to market. The Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution is now ready for sea trials.

Tuomas Riski, CEO and partner of Norsepower, states “The Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution, which is appropriate for retrofitting to over 20,000 vessels in the global merchant fleet, can be installed on any vessel without any off-hire costs. In favorable wind conditions our solution is able to produce over 10 percent savings in fuel costs with a payback period of less than four years. The target of the pilot project, which has now started, is to prove the savings potential and usability aspects of our technology.”

The Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution is a modernized version of the Flettner rotor. This auxiliary wind propulsion system helps cargo vessels significantly reduce fuel consumption. When the wind conditions are favorable, Norsepower Rotor Sails allow the 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.