Renewable energy leader Drax Group and Smart Green Shipping have entered into a partnership on a project to develop and use innovative wind-assisted ‘FastRig’ technology. This project intends to help decarbonise the shipping sector.
As a part of the announcement, Drax invested £1 million into a project, matched by a UK Government Clean Maritime grant. The project will install Smart Green Shipping’s lightweight, retractable wingsail on a ship. The aim is to show that the technology can cut fuel use and emissions by up to 30% annually.
New wind-assist solutions
The investment will also be used to develop Smart Green Shipping’s suite of wind-assist solutions. This includes FastRoute, an industry-first digital system co-created with the University of Southampton, that combines AI with high-performance computing to analyse weather data and optimise routes for ships equipped to harness wind power. Using historical and forecast weather data, FastRoute accurately predicts how FastRig will perform, optimising journeys for FastRig-enabled ships and giving investors confidence in fuel savings. Research shows that optimised weather routes significantly reduce fuel usage and GHG emissions.
Trials of FastRig
It is a retractable, recyclable, and autonomous aluminum wingsail that uses wind power to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30%. The FastRig can be retrofitted to existing commercial vessels.
Smart Green Shipping is currently undertaking sea trials of FastRig on one of Nuclear Transport Solutions’ specialist vessels, the Pacific Grebe, a purpose-built ship designed to carry nuclear cargo around the world safely. The sea trials will conclude by the end of October and will provide Smart Green Shipping with accurate, independently verified performance data.
If the demonstration is successful, work to install the technology on a commercial biomass vessel can begin, helping to decarbonise this hard-to-abate sector. The technology could also prove vital to further reducing supply chain emissions from the bulk transport of Drax’s sustainable biomass, which is used to produce around 8% of Britain’s renewable power.
The greenhouse gas emissions from shipping contribute around 3% of all global emissions, having risen 20% over the last decade. An earlier feasibility study conducted in partnership with Drax demonstrated potential fuel savings on ships equipped with FastRig of up to 30% per year on transatlantic routes.
Envisions ships powered by renewable energy
Founded by Diane Gilpin, UK-based Smart Green Shipping develops systems and engineering to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the shipping industry. It collaborates with ship owners, cargo owners, and other SMEs and large corporations. Their goal is to build ships that are powered 100% by renewable energy.
It works closely within the shipping ecosystem, including cargo owners Drax, shipowners MOL, Ultrabulk, NTS, and has received support and investment from Scottish Enterprise. Its technical team comprises Humphreys Yacht Design, Houlder, Malin Group, Caley Ocean Systems, Argo Engineering, Lloyd’s Register, and the University of Southampton.
Diane Gilpin, CEO and founder of Smart Green Shipping said: “Wind is abundant, free, and exclusively available to any ship equipped to use it. Modern 21st century easily retrofittable wing sails lower the cost of propelling ships, which reduces the dependency on commodity-based fuels – whether fossil or alternative fuels – and improves supply chain certainty. Smart Green Shipping shares a joint mission with Drax Group to use renewables to move renewables. We are immensely grateful for the support from Drax Group to create seamless and easy-to-access wind solutions for cargo owners and ship owners. The first commercial installation of FastRig is incredibly exciting and an important milestone as we derisk the transition to wind for the whole shipping ecosystem.”
Aim to offset carbon emissions
Talking about Drax, it aims to become a carbon-negative company by 2030 by installing Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) at Drax Power Station, in Yorkshire. The power station has already been transformed by using sustainable biomass instead of coal, and the application of BECCS could enable Drax to further reduce its emissions by permanently removing up to eight million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country’s electricity needs. Its team of nearly 3,000 employees operates across three principal areas of activity, including electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers, and compressed wood pellet production and supply to third parties.
Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO said: “Smart Green Shipping’s technology represents a landmark moment for the maritime energy transition and Drax is proud to provide this investment, which re-affirms our commitment to becoming a carbon-negative business by 2030. We look forward to continuing our longstanding partnership as we work together on this exciting project, which could allow us to reduce emissions from the shipping of sustainable biomass and help to decarbonise a crucial part of our global supply chain.”
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