Business Case for Wind Propulsion Improves as Decarbonisation Rules Kick In

FuelEU Maritime comes into force in January 2025 and wind propulsion is currently the only technology with a reward factor under the regulation. Vessels will be credited using such technologies by reducing the GHG intensity of energy used onboard.

Evidence provided by our members and sail technology companies show proven reductions of fuel and emissions where wind propulsion technology is deployed.

NorthStandard member MC Shipping installed two WindWings by BAR Technologies over one year ago on its bulk carrier Pyxis Ocean with performance data ratified by DNV.

MC Shipping Singapore Branch’s Head of New Technology, Karmesh Tiwari, says fuel savings vary with size and speed of a vessel, but the sails are marketed with average savings of 1.5 tonnes per WindWings unit per day across worldwide routes.

Even more fuel can be saved on windy routes, adds Tiwari, and favourable weather allowed the Pyxis Ocean to reach 9 knots on a ballast passage free sailing - without using its engine at all.

Using WindWings does not materially affect manoeuvrability or cargo operations, although Tiwari acknowledges that Pyxis Ocean experienced deadweight loss of about 1,590 MT.

Another wind propulsion developer, GT Wings tells NorthStandard that its 20-metre AirWing wind propulsion system helps to reduce the engine power for a given speed or allows the ship to increase speed instead of lowering power.

GT Wings CEO George Thompson says the solution is expected to save upward of 8.5% of fuel over a typical yearly average.

A lift for wind

The business case for wind propulsion is being widened by European legislation, the FuelEU Maritime and EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), as well as IMO regulations like the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), says NorthStandard Director External Affairs Helen Barden.

Barden is part of the NorthStandard Navigating Decarbonisation team, and contributed to drafting BIMCO’s EEXI Transition, CII Operations, and the Emission Trading Scheme Allowances Clauses for Time Charter Parties.

Barden is currently on BIMCO’s drafting committee producing a clause to promote data sharing between owners and charterers for energy efficiency purposes.

“Regulation will help drive the adoption of wind propulsion technologies, however, the contractual relationship between charterers and owners that puts its use into a commercial perspective still needs some work,” says Barden.

The European Union’s FuelEU regulation has a reward factor for wind propulsion, and at the IMO level wind propulsion is included as a pathway in the 2024 Life Cycle Analysis Guidelines.

At MEPC 82 a paper was submitted by the International Wind Ship Association setting out that wind energy can be incorporated into the mid-term measures.

IMO moves to develop market-based measures, including a global fuel standard and carbon levy may also advance shipping’s decarbonisation by encouraging wind propulsion and cutting the use of increasingly expensive fuels, says Mark Smith, Loss Prevention Director - NNE and Decarbonisation, NorthStandard.

Smith says more clarity is required on the benefits that will be given under FuelEU, the EU ETS and CII but adds: “If you reduce fuel use under the EU ETS it will have a positive impact on the number of allowances that have to be purchased and similarly on a ship’s CII rating.”

Wind sails come at a known capital cost, with little operating cost beyond that, whereas the prices of alternative fuels are likely to rise with strengthening demand while fossil fuels will also become more expensive under a carbon tax, Smith adds.

The power of sharing

Until now, though, the push for owners to install wind propulsion technology has tended to come from major charterers seeking to cut their emissions, whose long-term commercial relationship with owners better allows for costs and benefits to be shared.

Barden says it is more difficult for owners operating in the spot markets or on shorter term charters, but that work is underway to try and address this split incentive issue.

Bodies like the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation are working on a ‘pay as you save’ project and BIMCO has a drafting subcommittee, which Barden sits on, that will look at a cost-benefit retrofitting clause for time charter parties.

Smith adds that the lower costs of fuel and allowances also plays into cheaper cargo costs for charterers and potentially lower fares for passengers on other vessel types.

Thompson, of GT Wings, says he believes that the IMO will standardise calculation methods for wind propulsion emission savings. The method considered potentially most accurate will use comparative analysis based on data driven simulation and modelling, he adds.