Norsepower secures €10 million government loan to expand rotor sails manufacturing
Finnish wind propulsion systems maker Norsepower claims its product can reduce a vessel’s fuel consumption by 5-25% depending on wind conditions.
PHOTO: A model of the carrier with Norsepower Rotor Sails. Norsepower
In favourable wind conditions, the rotor sail system throttles back the vessel’s main engine, saving fuel and reducing emissions, it says.
The shipping sector accounts for about 2.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is responsible for 13.5% of the EU’s total GHG emissions, the company says.
“The future of shipping is emission free, and Norsepower's technology for cutting fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions is a part of that future”, Norsepower's chief executive Tuomas Riski says.
The €10 million ($11 million) loan, provided by the Finnish Climate Fund, will help the company to scale up rotor sail systems production, Riski adds.
Norsepower has recently inked an agreement with French shipowner and operator Socatra to install two rotor sails on one of its medium-range tankers.
The company has secured several other deals to install its rotor sails on vessels in recent months, including a ferry operated by Scandlines, a very large crude carrier (VLCC) operated by China Merchant Energy Shipping, vessels operated by mining majors BHP and Pan Pacific Copper and LNG carriers built by Chinese Dalian Shipbuilding Industry.
By Shilpa Sharma
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