During the 2023 GREEN4SEA Athens Forum, Mr. Gavin Allwright, Secretary General, International Windship Association (IWSA), highlighted that wind propulsion has been extensively researched, tested, discussed, piloted and by some, dismissed throughout the last decade, reports Safety4sea.
Wind propulsion as a pure zero emission source
When we talk about wind propulsion, we refer to direct wind energy used for propulsion which is a pure zero emissions energy source, abundant around the world globally and available today. It can be delivered directly to the ship at the point of use without the need to mine it, refine it, transport it, bunker it, or store it on board. In essence, it is very different energy source with zero cost among other benefits.
It’s very difficult to have a crystal ball and see the future; however, what I can see is that there is future for this option. We can see that it has zero cost today, at also at the end of the life of the ship and even when you take the system off the ship and put it on another ship you will still have another lifetime of zero emissions at zero costs as well!
So, it is a very useful energy source. The technology to harvest this energy source is of course not free but it will pay for itself. It is the only propulsion system that will actually pay for itself as all other options will cost more than the fuels we use today and better not to think of it as an ‘Energy Efficiency’ measure. It is an energy provider that pays for itself with zero compatibility issues, meaning that you can put a wind propulsion system on any ship and use any other fuel you’d like. This is why we like to call that a ‘win-win-wind’ situation.
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Source: Safety4sea
