Posted on 06/07/2023 7:21:24 AM PDT by dynachrome
Adventure cruise company Hurtigruten Norway today revealed plans for a zero-emissions electric cruise ship with retractable sails covered in solar panels, which is due to set sail in 2030.
The company currently has a fleet of eight ships, each with a capacity of 500 passengers, that travel along the Norwegian coast from Oslo to the Arctic Circle. Although a relatively small firm, CEO Hedda Felin hopes that this innovation “can inspire the entire maritime industry.”
The project, named “Sea Zero,” was initially announced in March 2022 and since then, Hurtigruten Norway, along with 12 maritime partners and Norway-based research institute SINTEF, has been exploring technological solutions that could help to achieve emission-free marine travel.
The zero-emissions ship's sails will retract so that the ship can pass under bridges, as shown here in a rendering.
The resulting design will run predominantly off 60 megawatt batteries that can be charged in port with clean energy, as renewables account for 98% of Norway’s electricity system. Gerry Larsson-Fedde, SVP of marine operations for Hurtigruten Norway, who came up with the idea of a zero-emission ship, estimates that the batteries will have a range of 300 to 350 nautical miles, meaning that during an 11-day round trip, one liner would have to charge around seven or eight times.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
If only a ship could be wind powered
Yeah but with a sailboat you have to tack....as they say these days ain’t nobody got time for tacking!
I suspect the existing ships will be sold off to other countries and will continue to emit CO2.
Yeah, this line caught my eye, too: “renewables account for 98% of Norway’s electricity system.”
The author conveniently forgot to mention this is only possible because of Norway’s unique location in the world providing plentiful hydro generation.
The author seems to be suggesting or hinting “if Norway can achieve 98% renewables, why can’t all the other countries?” But the author is an idiot. As are the people who conceived and designed this ship.
Another solution in search of problem. It’ll probably attract the “eco tourist” crowd for a while.
How much horse power aka Megawatts does a ship that size need to operate? Not only the engines need the power but also all the electrical and electronic used by the crew and passengers. What plans do they have when the ship hits a Lollapalooza of a storm and they can’t get out of the was in time?
LOL, they would have to treat the battery compartments like Magazines with ordinance on warships!
“FLOOD THE MAGAZINES-ER, BATTERY COMPARTMENTS!”
Of course, with batteries, that only makes it worse, and think of all those rare earth elements being pumped over the side into the ocean!
New meaning to ship of fools
I don’t think the article makes clear that these are experimental design plans for a possible vehicle and that their existing small fleet of ships are conventional in design. Get back to us when it is built and running successfully at a profit?
LOL!
I look forward to laughing in a few years when a news story appears about this ship being stranded during a cloudy spell and needing to get towed back to port.
It looks rather small.
All those sailors have to be fed.
Those solar sails are vestigial, about as useless as an infected appendix. What a scam.
The idiots shut down all their nuclear reactors which used to be the backbone of their grid.
Better be sure to have enough tow cables aboard.
Maybe their plan is to carry a battery big enough to get them to the next port where they can charge up again for 8 hours, and the solar panels are just window dressing.
I have no doubt that somewhere, government subsidies are in the cards...
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