Smart Green Shipping funding news – Smart Green Shipping Secures £1Million from Drax

The UK Government's Clean Maritime initiative awarded a matching grant to a project in which Drax invested £1 million. This project aims to fit a ship with Smart Green Shipping's retractable wingsail showing that it can reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30% each year.

Introducing new solutions for harnessing wind power

The investment will also be used to advance Smart Green Shipping’s suite of wind-assist solutions, including FastRoute. a digital system developed in collaboration with the University of Southampton. This system uses AI and powerful computers to analyze weather data and find the best routes for ships that use wind power technology.

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By utilizing historical and forecast weather data FastRoute accurately predicts the performance of FastRig optimizing journeys for ships with this technology and providing confidence to investors in terms of fuel savings.

FastRig Trials

Smart Green Shipping is currently conducting sea trials of FastRig on the Pacific Grebe, a specialized vessel of Nuclear Transport Solutions designed for transporting nuclear cargo globally.

These trials are expected to conclude by the end of October and will provide Smart Green Shipping with independently verified performance data. If the demonstration proves successful the installation of the technology on a commercial biomass vessel can commence, contributing to the decarbonization of this challenging sector.

Aim to offset carbon emissions 

The technology could play a crucial role in further reducing supply chain emissions from the bulk transport of Drax’s sustainable biomass which generates about 8% of Britain’s renewable power. Drax is committed to becoming a carbon-negative company by 2030 through the implementation of Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) at Drax Power Station in Yorkshire.

The power station has already switched to sustainable biomass in place of coal. The implementation of BECCS could further reduce CO2 emissions by up to eight million tonnes each year.

Miguel Veiga Pestana, Chief Sustainability Officer at Drax said: “Smart Green Shipping’s technology represents a landmark moment for the maritime energy transition and Drax is proud to provide this investment, which re-affirms our commitment to becoming a carbon-negative business by 2030. We look forward to continuing our longstanding partnership as we work together on this exciting project, which could allow us to reduce emissions from the shipping of sustainable biomass and help to decarbonise a crucial part of our global supply chain.”

Diane Gilpin, CEO and founder of Smart Green Shipping said: “Wind is abundant, free, and exclusively available to any ship equipped to use it. Modern 21st century easily retrofittable wing sails lower the cost of propelling ships, which reduces the dependency on commodity-based fuels – whether fossil or alternative fuels – and improves supply chain certainty. Smart Green Shipping shares a joint mission with Drax Group to use renewables to move renewables. We are immensely grateful for the support from Drax Group in creating seamless and easy-to-access wind solutions for cargo and ship owners. The first commercial installation of FastRig is incredibly exciting and an important milestone as we derisk the transition to Wind for the whole shipping ecosystem.”

About Smart Green Shipping

Founded by Diane Gilpin, UK-based Smart Green Shipping develops systems and engineering to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the shipping industry. It collaborates with ship owners, cargo owners, other SMEs and large corporations. Their goal is to build ships powered 100% by renewable energy.