Kongsberg launches NOK 68 million wind propulsion project to cut ship fuel use

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Kongsberg Maritime and a group of Norwegian shipping, technology and research organisations have launched the three year WINTEGRATE project to improve how wind assisted propulsion is integrated with vessel machinery, energy management and navigation systems.

The project has been awarded up to NOK 68 million through Norway’s Green Platform programme and will use vessels operated by Odfjell SE and Seatrans for full scale testing.

WINTEGRATE is intended to address one of the practical barriers facing wider adoption of wind assisted propulsion systems. Rotor sails, suction wings and other wind technologies can provide additional thrust, but their effectiveness also depends on how propulsion, engine loads, power management, vessel speed and routing respond to changing wind conditions.

Rather than treating sails as standalone equipment added to a vessel, WINTEGRATE will examine them as part of the ship’s wider propulsion and control system.

The approach is similar to adding another engine to a vessel, except that the available power changes continuously with the weather. Control systems therefore need to decide how much conventional propulsion is required, how the vessel should be routed and how energy consumption can be reduced without disrupting commercial operations.

“WINTEGRATE represents an important step toward making wind propulsion a practical and scalable solution for commercial shipping,” said Erik Hjortland, VP Technology at Odfjell.

“By integrating sail technologies with onboard systems, we can unlock significant emission reductions and strengthen the competitiveness of the Norwegian maritime industry.”

The research will cover propulsion control, power management, weather routing, automation and operational optimisation. Data from the Odfjell and Seatrans demonstration vessels will be used to test and validate the technologies under operating conditions.

Odfjell already has practical experience with wind assisted propulsion. The chemical tanker operator has deployed suction sail technology and is also participating in the separate European AWESOME research programme, which is examining wind propulsion performance and integration.

The WINTEGRATE consortium brings together shipowners, equipment manufacturers, classification, weather routing specialists and research institutions.

Partners include SINTEF Ocean, SINTEF Digital, Odfjell, Seatrans, DNV, StormGeo, OsloMet, Norsepower, bound4blue, Corvus, OMS and DIGICAT. Kongsberg Maritime is the project owner, while SINTEF Ocean is coordinating and leading the research work.

OsloMet is contributing cybernetics expertise through its Oceanlab research environment and has been allocated NOK 8 million for its work over the project’s three year period.

The programme will examine technologies including rotor sails and suction wings and how they can communicate with other vessel systems. The resulting methodologies are intended to support both retrofits and newbuild projects.

Norway’s Green Platform initiative finances large research and innovation programmes intended to produce climate, environmental and industrial benefits. The programme is administered through the Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and Siva.

WINTEGRATE’s full scale trials will provide operational data that can be used to measure whether tighter integration between wind propulsion, conventional machinery and digital routing systems can translate available wind into greater fuel savings during commercial voyages.