PRESS RELEASE: Norsepower Oy Ltd., the leading provider of low-maintenance, software operated, and data verified auxiliary wind propulsion systems, today announced that it is one of just five recipients of the 2018 WWF Climate Solver Nordic Award. The company is the only shipping industry organisation among this year’s five Climate Solver honourees from Nordic countries, who were recognised for their innovative technologies that have the potential to dramatically reduce carbon emissions or increase access to energy around the globe.
WWF’s Climate Solver Awards have been held since 2008, honouring climate innovations for over 100 companies that are making positive environmental contributions in key countries around the globe. In addition to the Nordic awards, the Climate Solver Awards are also awarded in China, India, and South Africa.
Norsepower has been honoured as a Nordic Climate Solver for its climate potential to gain further commercial success with wind-assisted propulsion technology for international shipping. Norsepower’s Rotor Sail Solution is a modernised version of the Flettner rotor which uses the Magnus effect to harness wind energy into forward propulsion – allowing the ships main engines to be throttled back, thereby reducing fuel consumption. Applicable particularly to passenger, tanker, general cargo and RoRo vessels, Norsepower estimates that if 20,000 existing ships were retrofitted with its Rotor Sail Solution technology, it would equate to a circa 5% reduction in total carbon emissions from the global fleet.
Speaking on this year’s honourees, Stefan Henningsson, Senior Advisor Climate, Energy & Innovation at WWF in Sweden, said: “One of our goals with the Climate Solver initiative is to look for transformative technologies and business models that can disrupt the ‘business as usual’ approach. Small, incremental changes will not be enough to fulfil the Paris agreement; we need innovations with high impact potential to commercialise fast in order to reach a net zero emission economy fast enough.”
