World’s First Coal Carrier With A Sail To Achieve Environmental And Economic Objectives
World’s First Coal Carrier With A Sail To Achieve Environmental And Economic Objectives
Mitsui O.S.K., Lines, Ltd. (MOL) and Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. announced that they will be joining hands to study about the installation of the first hard sail system (Wind Challenger) on a coal carrier in the world.
Wind Challenge was studied in the ‘Wind Challenger Project’, which had MOL as the leading member. It is a telescoping hard sail that can convert wind energy to propulsive force. With the installation of this on merchant vessels, the consumption of fuel can be reduced significantly. It will thereby lead to the reduction of the impact that vessel operations have on the environment and thus, making it more economically efficient.
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The installation of the Wind Challenger on the coal carriers that helps in the transportation of coal to the thermal power plants of Tohoku Electric has been studied jointly by MOL and Tohoku Electric. After it was confirmed that the vessel which had Wind Challenger was accepted in port facilities of the coal thermal power plants that are by Tohoku Electric, the decision to go forward with the full-scale joint study was taken by the companies.
The companies are planning to launch the first vessel equipped with the Wind Challenger of the world after 2022 after verifying the impact of the system on delivery of the operations and sailing in/out at the coal unloading port facilities, the reduction of GHG emission that it leads to when it is in operation and various other factors.
Reference: https://www.mol.co.jp/en/
