The company was founded by Riski in 2012 to develop and commercialise the Norsepower Rotor Sail Solution, a modernised version of the Flettner rotor, designed to harness wind power as an additional power source. Since founding it has raised more than $10m of seed funding. The Flettner rotor, first invented in the early 20th century, consists of a spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind power to propel a ship, and is claimed to be 10 times more efficient than a regular sail.
Norsepower Rotor Sails can be used with new vessels or can be retrofitted on existing ships without off-hire costs. They are considered particularly suited for tanker, ro-ro, general cargo and bulker vessels, and have already produced independently verified savings of 6.1% in commercial operation aboard a 9,700 dwt ro-ro carrier.
Recently Maersk Tankers decided to trial the equipment aboard one of its LR2 tankers. Norsepower will supply two 30 m tall by 5 m diameter Rotor Sails to be retrofitted onboard the vessel, with expected fuel savings of 7-10% in average fuel consumption on typical global shipping routes.
The Norsepower team is at Nor-Shipping this week showcasing a live demo of the science behind their Rotor Sail Solution on stand 03-28c in Hall D.
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