Public Funding for Scotline Limited

This project tackles 3 issues surrounding the proliferation of Wind Propulsion Technology (WPT). 1. Performance: Spaera has developed and is in the process of refining and patenting a novel WPT system with significantly greater performance characteristics than available offerings - this project will demonstrate that performance through validated virtual methods, as well as the concept's operational, commercial, and regulatory suitability. 2. Transparency: Current early adopters of WPT are seeing a shortfall between predicted and delivered performance. In collaboration with the University of Southampton, this project will improve virtual WPT assessment techniques through sophisticated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling, correlated to physical testing to ensure accuracy. Greater virtual assessment accuracy will also aid in the development of higher performance WPT devices. 3. Real-World Applicability: Assessing the delivered performance for a given wind-speed, wind-angle and sea state is only piece of the puzzle. Extrapolating this information across a vessel's actual mission profile to determine the total fuel savings, emission reductions, and operational impacts is an important component of understanding the real-world applicability of WPT. This project will use sophisticated route analysis, highest fidelity weather input, and unsurpassed virtual vessel performance prediction to show accurate impacts of WPT across a vessel's individual voyages and lifetime, as well as the further savings possible through multi-objective route optimisation. These analyses will be correlated for accuracy to real world vessel operation through project partners Scotline ltd. The adoption of WPT is critical for the shipping industry to reach net-zero by 2050\. Drop-in fossil-fuel replacements suffer from lower energy density, lack of infrastructure and availability, high cost, and the potential for unintended negative consequences - such as fugitive methane emissions from LNG, delivering 87 times greater warming potential than CO2, or N2O from combustion of ammonia, delivering 268 times greater warming potential than CO2 (IPCC). Additionally, the manufacturing of alternative fuels adds further energy use and emissions. To reach net zero, we need to drastically reduce the amount of energy a vessel is required to store. WPT acts as a direct energy source, lowering the onboard energy storage burden, produces zero emissions and requires no infrastructure, storage or ongoing energy supply costs. Across the applicable maritime fleet, the use of WPT has the capability of annually saving over 300 million tonnes of CO2 and its equivalent GHGs directly, and will allow true net zero to be achievable by compensating for the shortfalls of future fuels commercially and operationally.