Independent testing confirms Norsepower Rotor Sail savings on Viking Grace

Norsepower, a provider of auxiliary renewable wind energy propulsion systems, has announced that independent test results have showed that its Rotor Sail technology will deliver annual LNG marine fuel savings of around 300 tonnes on the Viking Line-owned and operated M/S Viking Grace. A strain gauge analysis performed by NAPA and ABB isolated an evident change in the propulsion power breakdown of Viking Grace, caused by the Rotor Sail. In this test, the forward thrust of the Rotor Sail was measured and converted into propulsion power. As such, the expected long-term change in Viking Grace’s annual fuel consumption due to the Rotor Sail has been verified to be between 231-315 tonnes on an annual basis, equaling an average propulsion power between 207kW and 282kW. As a result, Viking Line and Norsepower have agreed to continue collaboratively using and optimizing the Rotor Sail on the M/S Viking Grace with the technology now fully operational. Tuomas Riski, CEO, Norsepower, said, “When the test period began, we had some challenges with our new product, but were able to fix them quickly; since the end of September 2018, the technical availability of the Rotor Sail has been around 97%. We are pleased to see that independent testing from respected, independent companies NAPA and ABB has shown impressive fuel savings potential on the M/S Viking Grace. This project has confirmed that our technology works also with high-speed cruise ferries, and that favorable results can be achieved with a service speed of 21kts.” Operating in the archipelago between Turku, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden, the 57,565 GT M/S Viking Grace was retrofitted with one medium-size Norsepower Rotor Sail unit in April 2018, making it the first-ever LNG/wind-electric propulsion ship. In addition to the installation on board the M/S Viking Grace, Norsepower’s Rotor Sail Solution is installed on board the Bore’s M/S Estraden, a 9,700 DWT ro-ro carrier and Maersk Tanker’s 110,000 DWT Maersk Pelican.