Wind propulsion

Windship association award winners announced

Unique awards recognize growth in wind assist and wind propulsion developments as interest from shipping grows

As the calls for ‘Action Now’ at COP26 are resonating and world leaders and industry are still grappling with the level of decarbonisation ambition, a large group of shipping decarbonisation pioneers gathered virtually just across the river, hosted by the Malin group, to celebrate the winners of the Wind Propulsion Innovation Awards which were announced yesterday.

“The awards were created by the International Windship Association (IWSA) to celebrate wind propulsion for commercial shipping, an impactful and ‘ready-to-implement’ decarbonisation solution toolbox for the shipping industry. We need to act quickly, and wind propulsion systems offer a huge opportunity as a ‘no regret technology’ that is compatible with all other fuel choices and vessel adjustments,” says Gavin Allwright, IWSA Secretary General and master of ceremonies for the event.

In October, the awards received some 84 nominations which were then whittled down to just over 30 shortlisted ones across seven categories by a 27-person shortlisting panel with judges drawn from across the shipping and renewable energy sectors.

In the 17 days of voting, the awards logged over 40,000 votes and each of the categories attracted a lot of attention and were reportedly tight races.

Wind Propulsion Innovation Award -Anemoi Marine Technologies

The Wind Propulsion Innovation Award for developers of innovative technology and installations and sponsored by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) was won by Anemoi Marine Technologies and Tufton Investment Management Ltd for the installation of rotor sails on Tufton’s TR Lady with the system to be installed on a rail system to allow cargo operations on the bulk carrier to continue uninterrupted.

Wind Propulsion Technology User Award -Vale

The Wind Propulsion Technology User Award, sponsored by Thordon Bearings and presented to a company championing the use of wind propulsion through installing systems on ships was snapped up by Vale SA for the five rotor sails installed on the MV Sea Zhoushan, VLOC (Very Large Ore Carrier) 325,000 dwt, which is currently the largest ship in the world to have wind assist systems installed.

Wind Propulsion Projects Award -Oceanbird

In the tightest voting category of the day, the Oceanbird concept took away the Wind Propulsion Projects Award, the category spotlighting innovative projects that are furthering the uptake of wind propulsion, tackling barriers, or developing new technology and hybrid configurations and sponsored by Wärtsilä Marine Power. This concept developed by Wallenius Marine is for a 7000-unit capacity car carrier with primary wind propulsion enabling up to 90% reduced emissions, The project is now being carried forward by a joint venture with Alfa Laval named AlfaWall. Wallenius Wilhelmsen has announced that they intend to order a car-carrier called Orcelle Wind based on this that will be sailing in 2025.

Small Vessel Award -Advanced Wing Systems

The Small Vessel Award, sponsored by MARIN, was also a very popular category that was won by Advanced Wing Systems which has developed a flat panel morphing, semi rigid wing sail system which has tried and tested high aerodynamic performance system, and which is reportedly robust and cost effective for various rig configurations and can be automated.

Completed Research Award

The other three categories were voted on by the IWSA membership with two research categories, the first one, the Completed Research Award, saw the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA), Kühne Logistics University (KLU) Hapag-Lloyd Center for Shipping and Global Logistics (CSGL), Dealfeng New Energy Technology and Econowind present that to the team behind the EU commissioned report, ‘Study on the Analysis of Market Potentials & Market Barriers for Wind Propulsion Technologies for Ships’.

Proposed Research Award

While the Proposed Research Award was presented by Green Marine, Norsepower and Yara Marine Technologies to Martina Reche Vilanova, North Technology Group for an upcoming research project which will focus on modelling, design, and cost optimization across a wide number of wind propulsion systems.

Outstanding Contribution to the Wind Propulsion Sector

The final award was for Outstanding Contribution to the Wind Propulsion Sector, and the host of the awards stated that this was a “very challenging one to present having worked with or been inspired by all of the nominees”, however the members vote was given to Diane Gilpin, CEO of Smart Green Shipping for her long-standing commitment to wind propulsion and continued advocacy work for the overall technology segment. Diane was there to also received the award in person.

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