The results of a project to install revolutionary new sail technology on a ship based in Barrow to transport nuclear fuel have been revealed.
Nuclear Transport Solutions became the first nuclear transport operator in the world to make use of the technology which has been designed in collaboration with Smart Green Shipping, a renewable marine technology specialist.
A sail, known as a FastRig wingsail was added to the Pacific Grebe – a purpose-built ship designed to safely carry nuclear cargos around the world – while it was moored in Barrow. The sails are said to be lightweight, stowable and easily able to be retrofitted and work by reducing the amount of power needed from conventional engines, reducing fuel costs and emissions.
Smart Green Shipping (SGS) has now released the results of the sea trials of its wind-assisted propulsion system (WAPS) conducted in late 2024.
The project, known as Winds of Change, also involved academics from the University of Southampton’s maritime engineering department.
“During the sea trials, we compared the performance of the ship, with and without the FastRig, operating across a range of different ship speeds and wind conditions,” Dr Joseph Banks, Associate Professor in Maritime Engineering at the University of Southampton, said. “This enabled 21 trial conditions to be compared with our performance predictions, 15 at a ship speed of 9kts and 6 at 11kts.”
When compared with the results from the university’s performance prediction tool, the findings revealed good prediction accuracy of the total power saving demonstrated across a range of wind angles and speed.
“There is good agreement for most trial conditions between the predicted and measured savings,” Joe said. “This gives us a high degree of confidence
in predicting the power savings of the FastRig for commercial installations.”
Smart Green Shipping was set up in 2014 by CEO and entrepreneur Di Gilpin with the aim of developing a 21st Century wingsail system that can
be swiftly retrofitted to vessels to provide wind propulsion to ships.
“Our recent sea trials have demonstrated the FastRig’s ability to address key market concerns, such as time away from commercial operations, impact on vessel structure and operational safety (particularly visibility), and additional energy consumption to power WAPs,” Diane Gilpin said. “Our customers, collaborators, and investors now have clear evidence that FastRig’s lightweight, stowable design reduces the need for extensive deck reinforcement and eliminates reliance on active fans or rotors. This has the added benefit of minimising energy use onboard while enabling time-efficient installations and removals quayside or in alignment with planned drydock schedules — supporting ship owners, charterers and those in the spot market with simplified access to wind as a free, renewable and futureproof source of energy.”
The company are preparing a fully costed business case for a commercial installation of four 35m FastRig sails scheduled for 2026.
