Smart Green Shipping Alliance

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

No funds listed.

Nov. 1, 2018

Oct. 31, 2019

The SGSA's mission is to build the world's first 100% renewable powered commercially superior ship within 5 years.

The shipping industry is faced with a raft of stringent emissions regulations, having recently committed to reduce GHG emissions by 50% by 2050. There are few innovative technologies available to help shipping meet this target.

Wind is an abundant propulsion energy accessible exclusively to any ship with the ability to harness it. Sailing ships made the world we know but 21st century sailing ships will look as much like the Cutty Sark as a Model T Ford does a Tesla. Using existing, proven technology combining automated sailing rigs with bio-fuelled engines we have tested the concept design for fully-optimised 100% renewable powered ships.

The UK is a world leader is offshore yacht racing and we use this expertise to solve big technical challenges. We work the best merchant marine engineering and ship building to produce 21st century fully automated sail technologies - FAST - for either retrofit or new build commercial ships.

Wind delivers cost-certain- ie, free - propulsion. About 60% of a ships' opex is fuel. Wind mitigates the risk exposure ships have to volatile cost commodity fossil and bio fuels. It makes long-lifed ships a more attractive investment proposition. We can predict the value of available wind on any vessel on any route by using historical data-sets analysing statistical trends in wind speeds and direction going back 25 years.

Commercially the UK is unmatched for its expertise in shipbroking, insurance, legal and financial services. More capital is provided via London banks and funds, and more vessels insured here than in any other location in the world.

This means we can sell our ground-breaking maritime renewable propulsion technology using established lease-financing products for renewable energy that have been refined by this deep commercial shipping expertise for the unique maritime market to ensure FAST solutions are accessible to cash-strapped ship-owners. This same type of renewable energy financing schemes have helped propel the solar energy industry's exponential growth over the last decade. Improved manufacturing and economies of scale means production costs plummet driving further uptake. We anticipate the same growth for maritime renewables.

This project funds a collaborative cross-sector Feasibility Study that is the first step in the journey towards the 100% renewable goal. The results will be used to develop a full-size wind-assisted technical and commercial Demonstrator ship retrofitted with FAST technology.