Dutch maritime research institute MARIN has initiated the project Optiwise, an EU funded research and innovation project aiming to improve and demonstrate energy savings using wind propulsion and hydrodynamic improvements in propulsion.
The EU published a call requesting solutions for energy savings of at least 10% for single measures and 20% for combined measures. In response, the Optiwise consortium defined the following ambition:
Our overall ambition is to develop and employ holistic design and control methods for ground-breaking new ship concepts utilising wind propulsion while considering realistic operational scenarios. With these methods we expect to realise average energy savings between 30% and 50% when compared to equivalent conventional ships while ensuring operational feasibility in a realistic wind climate
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The Optiwise project will pursue its objectives through close inspection of three operational use cases. These cases will provide a relevant sample of the world fleet, such that the methods developed in the project should cover the majority of the seagoing shipping fleet.
While the wind propulsion type is preselected for each ship type, the exact implementation and change of the ship design and energy management is fully open to further performance enhancement.
The project scope involves extensive simulations where disciplines such as aerodynamics, hydrodynamics and routing and energy management are holistically brought together.
Great attention will be applied to ensure realistic operational applications of the developed designs. Thus, these will be complemented with basin tests to assess manoeuvring and seakeeping, bridge simulations to assess crew operation, and land-based wind propulsion tests to verify better control.
The project will deliver open guidelines for:
- Integrated system optimisation with wind propulsion
- Smart measurement and control for best operation
The guidelines will be demonstrated in experimental model tests, bridge simulations and measurements on a full scale land based wind propulsion unit.
Zero emission fuels are assumed to be the main solution. However, sufficient and affordable supply of such fuels is highly uncertain for the foreseeable future, which means that energy saving on board is expected to be increasingly important, both environmentally and economically
stated Konstantinos Papoutsis from Euronav NV.
In addition, Rogier Eggers, Project Manager at MARIN, mentioned that “wind propulsion is so far mostly applied without re-considering the overall ship design and operations.”
