World's first merchant ship powered by a giant kite to set sail for Venezuela

[emad]

It's the return to sail power: Today the world's first commercial ship powered partly by a giant kite will set off on its maiden voyage from Bremen to Venezuela.

But the experiment isn't just fuelled by nostalgia for the glory days of tall sailing ships. Inventor Stephan Wrage hopes the giant can wipe 20 per cent, or £800, from the ship's daily fuel bill.

"We aim to prove it pays to protect the environment," Wrage said. "Showing that ecology and economics are not contradictions motivates us all."

The 10,000-tonne "MS Beluga SkySails" - which will use a computer-guided kite to harness powerful ocean winds far above the surface and support the engine - combines modern technology with know-how that has been in use for millennia.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=509738&in_page_id=1811


BELuga? Mmmmmmmmmmm. Caviar.

[Deep13]

1. New uniforms to include eye-patches, parrots.

Arrrrgh.

[unpossibles]

2. that is pretty cool!

I assume they obviously use fuel for calms or heading into wind, but what a great solution.

[Xithras]

3. This hasn't been tested yet?

I find it interesting that they "hope" to wipe 20% off the fuel bill. You'd think they'd have done some testing before deploying it on a commercial vessel.

Unfortunately, I don't think this is going to have the impact they are looking for. Modern cargo ship keels are designed to be nearly flat to reduce friction, whereas old sailing ships had V keels to prevent side-slipping when running horizontal to the wind. Modern sailboats have centerboards and long keels to accomplish the same thing. The problem this ship will have, if my sailing knowledge is to be trusted, is that with no real keel it has nothing to combat the drift this "sail" will induce if the wind is not perfectly parallel to the ships direction of travel (and it rarely is). If the wind were blowing across the ship, as it is in the picture, the tendency of the ship is going to be to drift in that direction. The deep keel counters that on traditional sailing ships, but there is no equivalent on modern freighters. Countering the drift induced by this sail will require the ships captain to trim his rudders. Trimming the rudder will introduce drag, which the captain will be forced to counter by the addition of more engine power.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the idea of bringing back wind powered ships, but I have serious doubts about the ability of this particular design to achieve the efficiency they're looking for in a ship that was never designed for external propulsion of this type. Modern ships could possibly be retrofitted to utilize sail power, but doing so should require the retrofitting of something like a wing keel onto the ships (which, in turn, introduces issues with channel and harbor depths).

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. From the sound of the article it looks like the ship was designed with

this in mind, not a retrofit.

could be the start of something big.

[Ptah]

5. That's a tall kite - 300 meters!

"The kite, made of waterproof textiles, flies at altitudes of 300 metres.
It is linked to a computer that reads sea swells, wind speeds,
propeller rotations and other data. When the wind is strong,
the captain can throttle back on the engine and use kite power."

[cloudbase]

6. Good luck with that.

I don't think it will be commercially viable. I'm retired from a career in the merchant marine (chief engineer) and can still remember all the hubbub about the Savannah.

[Orsino]

7. The price of oil is only going up.

This scheme will be commercially viable at some point, and inevitable not long after that.

[PhD]

9. I would have to agree

It is an interesting idea but a number of practical issues make me question its feasibility. Using wind to charge batteries to supplement the propulsion system might be a more efficient approach.

[Ready4Change]

8. Is that an actual picture?

If so, is the cargo on it's deck parts of Wind turbines?

Just 'cuze it would be cool to use wind to deliver those. :)