The American Bureau of Shipping has just approved a new concept for renewable energy production for a commercial grid that converts the solar energy of tropic oceans into low-cost electricity.  The new concept design utilizes a moored spar using ammonia in a closed-cylce process to produce electrical power and, unlike wind, tidal, or solar power, the system can deliver constant output 24 hours a day.

“This concept combines proven offshore principles with off-the-shelf power, technology and proprietary innovations, all assembled in a unique way,” says Ian Simpson, ABS Director of Offshore Technology and Business Development, Americas Division.

Developed by OTEC International (OTI) of Baltimore, Maryland, the concept converts liquid ammonia into gas in a heat exchanger using warm ocean surface water. The ammonia gas then drives turbines that turn generators to produce electricity which is then exported through a submarine power cable to a land-based utility company. The ammonia is condensed back into a liquid phase using cold ocean water pumped from 3,000 feet below the water’s surface and the process begins again. The process is based upon the well-established thermodynamic Rankine cycle.

“OTI has integrated the OTEC power block into a large floating vessel, in this case a spar, for an economically and environmentally-efficient means of converting solar energy from the tropical oceans into affordable electricity,” explains Barry Cole, OTI’s Executive Vice President and Director of Technology Development.

ABS has issued this first Approval in Principle for both the 25MW and 100MW designs and says OTI could be eligible for ABS’ class notation A1, Floating Offshore Installation (FOI) Spar, SFA(30).

Via ABS

The British Parliament’s Energy and Climate Change Committee, chaired by Tim Yeo MP, launched an inquiry last week to investigate the potential for marine renewables to contribute towards the UK’s renewables and emissions targets.

The UK has the largest wave and tidal resources in Europe. The Carbon Trust has estimated that around 15–20% of the UK’s electricity could potentially be produced from marine renewable sources (based on the available resource). A range of technologies is being developed to harness these resources, but most are immature and still at an early stage of development.

The Government has provided funding to the research and development of marine technologies through a number of routes, including the £50 million Marine Renewables Deployment Fund (MRDF) created by the previous Government. The Spending Review of November 2010 announced innovation funding of over £200 million for low carbon technologies over the next four financial years, from April 2011. On 28 June 2011, DECC announced that £20 million of this funding would be used to support two projects to test prototypes in array formations.

“Virginia is pleased to be the nexus where two industry leaders will join forces in the name of offshore wind innovation,” said Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. “The Commonwealth offers all the attributes needed to provide an optimal location for offshore wind energy production, and to become the East Coast epicenter for the offshore wind supply chain. This partnership between Gamesa and Northrop Grumman shares similar goals with the National Offshore Wind Technology Center being developed in Hampton Roads, which the Commonwealth also supports. The opportunity to leverage both centers moves Virginia forward in our effort to become the energy capital of the East Coast and a leader in the nation’s offshore wind industry.”

The opening of the center builds on the alliance the two companies formed in October to cooperate on the launch of Gamesa’s first G11X-5.0 MW offshore prototype in the United States, using Gamesa’s multi-megawatt technology and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s broad experience in challenging marine environments.

Since then, Gamesa and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding have put in place a team of nearly 50 engineers, focusing on the development of Gamesa’s G11X-5.0 MW offshore prototype in the United States. The highly skilled team will oversee the design and development of the wind turbine and testing of the prototypes. The team’s immediate goal is to install the first two Gamesa G11X-5.0 MW offshore prototypes — one onshore and one offshore for comprehensive validation testing — by the fourth quarter of 2012.

“We needed to find the best partner for the marine environments, someone capable of meeting Gamesa’s high performance standards, and we found that partner in Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding,” said Dirk Matthys, Chairman and CEO of Gamesa North America. “This venture will enable Gamesa, already one the world’s leading designers, manufacturers, installers and maintainers of land-based wind turbines, to put our technology to work to design the first generation of offshore wind technology that will meet the rising demand for clean, sustainable energy.”

Matthys stressed that the partnership between Gamesa and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding ensures an integrated approach to the design will be met. An integrated design and logistics support approach of the wind turbine systems will address the market’s main concerns, namely turbine reliability, low maintenance and servicing requirements, and minimizing the cost of generating electricity.

“Gamesa’s priorities are well aligned with the strategy outlined by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar earlier this week,” Matthys added. “Our Chesapeake Offshore Wind Technology Center is just the latest example of our longtime leadership in developing advanced solutions for wind energy.”

Attending the launch of the Offshore Wind Technology Center on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy was Jacques Beaudry-Losique, Wind & Water Program Manager in the department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

“Today represents a new chapter in our company’s long and distinguished history,” said Matt Mulherin, Vice President and General Manager for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. “We are very proud to be teamed with such an innovative and highly-respected industry leader like Gamesa, and we look forward to bringing our 125 years of engineering, design and manufacturing expertise to this project.”

Britt Theismann, Chief Operating Officer of the American Wind Energy Association, said: “Offshore wind development is the next big thing for the American Wind industry, and this center is a major milestone in our progress to harness these vast resources to power our economy and put people to work. Through this new center, Gamesa and Northrop Grumman are creating a new and revolutionary addition to the wind energy supply chain, right here in America. This facility is another example of the many jobs and economic benefits the wind industry is bringing to this country.  Wind power is clean, affordable and homegrown”

“Chesapeake takes pride in an environment that offers a central location, a highly-skilled work force and access to multiple markets, all of which are qualities that have drawn world-class businesses like Gamesa and Northrop Grumman to our city,” Chesapeake Mayor Alan P. Krasnoff said. “These two companies — both leaders in the growing energy sector — are opening new doors and creating new opportunities for our city and our Commonwealth, and Chesapeake is happy to welcome them with open arms.”

Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced $50 million in funding for wind energy research and development and designated four areas off the shores of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia where wind power proposals will receive an expedited review.

“We can win the clean energy race,” Chu said Monday at a press conference.

U.S. regulators could offer leases for those areas “as early as the end of 2011 or early 2012,” the Departments of Interior and Energy said in a press release. The agencies said an early environmental review will quicken the approval process.

Meanwhile, the Energy Department said it is soliciting proposals for research into wind turbine design and factors that limit deployment of wind energy. The agency has set aside funding worth up to $50.5 million over the next five years.

Chu and Salazar made their announcement in Norfolk, Va., where area ports have been envisioned as a hub of wind energy manufacturing.

-By Ryan Tracy Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Highlights of this design include:

• 9MW of solar panels covering the entire topside cargo area
• Retractable sails between each cargo bay
• Self-unloading cargo bays
• Superconducting power link between the forward engine room and the aft thrusters
• Modular design that allows complete separation of the bow and stern from the middle cargo area (somewhat like an ITB, but the cargo ship version)
• Powered by modular LNG fuel cells
• sleek, low wind resistance design

Check out the concept video here: NYK SUPER ECO SHIP 2030

Jean Cahuzac, Chief Executive Officer, Subsea 7 S.A. commented: “We are delighted to officially launch Subsea 7’s Offshore Renewables Division. Our proven seabed-to-surface expertise, capabilities, strong safety and risk management processes and systems are fully transferable to support this emerging market. We look forward to working with the major clients in this sector to deliver the execution of offshore developments in a timely and safe manner.”

This new division of Subsea 7 is also pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Scottish and Southern Energy plc (SSE) under which Subsea 7 will form an alliance with SSE, Siemens plc, Siemens Transmission and Distribution Limited, Burntisland Fabrications Ltd and Atkins. The purpose of this alliance will be to work together in a collaborative arrangement in order to secure substantial reduction in the cost of delivered power from offshore wind farms. Subsea 7 will be responsible for marine operations and offshore construction within the alliance.

Bob Dunsmore, Vice President Renewables, Subsea 7 commented: “The signing of this MOU provides a great opportunity for Subsea 7 to work with SSE to look at how we can develop offshore wind projects in the future in the most cost effective and safe manner. To be part of this alliance with SSE, the largest generator of electricity from renewable sources in the UK and Ireland, and the other leading players in the industry is a significant step for Subsea 7. We look forward to this opportunity which is very much aligned to our vision to be a leading strategic partner with our clients.”

Guides developed to date have been primarily based on experience from European coastal waters. However, ABS’ Guide is the first to specifically consider the conditions these structures may encounter in tropical storm prone waters. The Guide takes into account the well-established International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61400 series of standards for wind turbines, the American Petroleum Institute’s Recommended Practice for Planning, Designing and Constructing Fixed Offshore Platforms (API RP 2A), ABS’ offshore Rules and Guides and the unique environmental conditions on the US OCS.

“The direct application of design criteria in existing standards, such as IEC 61400-3, is not sufficient for the offshore wind turbines in US waters,” explains ABS Managing Principal Engineer, Qing Yu and the Guide’s principal author. “We incorporate additional requirements based on calibration studies that use regional and site-specific conditions of US waters,” he adds.

The Guide incorporates refinements to the design environmental conditions and design load cases required by IEC 61400-3 to account for the effects of tropical hurricane conditions. Yu points out the principle of site-specific design are more directly addressed in the definition of the design load cases. “Omni-directional wind conditions are required for the design load case in the event an offshore wind turbine loses its connection to the electrical power grid during a tropical hurricane.”

The Guide also specifies a unique set of strength design criteria for the steel support structure of an offshore wind turbine based on the commonly accepted working stress design (WSD) approach. “Allowable stresses are defined for a variety of design conditions including normal, abnormal, transport and installation, as well as earthquake and other rare conditions,” says Yu. “In addition, equivalent load and resistance factor design (LRFD) criteria are defined as an alternative to the WSD-based criteria.”

ABS offers a class notation for those turbine support structures complying with the requirements and conditions of the Guide. The notation A1 Offshore Wind Turbine Installation will be listed in the ABS Record. Other optional class notations are S (years) for the return period of maximum design environmental conditions and FL (years) for the design fatigue life.

In celebration of Earth Day, NYK Line released the initial exploratory design for its NYK Super Eco Ship 2030, an energy-efficient ship expected to emit almost 70% less CO₂ emissions than current vessels. The design was created by MTI, a wholly owned NYK subsidiary charged with making use of advances in technology, along with Garroni Progetti s.r.l, an Italian designer of ships, and Elomatic Marine, a Finnish marine-technology consultant.

The race to go green is on in the shipping industry.  Not only is the price of oil soaring, but more and more stress is being put on the shipping industry to decrease its carbon emissions and its harmful affects on the global environment.  This has led shipping companies to turn to sources of a renewable energy to power their vessels.

Two Japanese companies have taken the initiative to tackle this important issue saying that they plan to begin work on the first ships to have propulsion engines partially powered by solar energy and they could be ready as soon as 2010.  According to an article in Reuters:

Japan’s biggest shipping line Nippon Yusen KK and Nippon Oil Corp said solar panels capable of generating 40 kilowatts of electricity would be placed on top of a 60,000 tonne car carrier to be used by Toyota Motor Corp.

The solar panels would help conserve up to 6.5 percent of fuel oil used in powering diesel engines that generate electricity at any given moment.

Solar panels for an average home usually generate 3.5 kilowatts of electricity.

The system is expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1-2 percent, or about 20 tonnes per year, said Hideyuki Dohi, general manager at Nippon Oil’s energy system development department.

Nippon Yusen will invest about 150 million yen ($1.4 million) in the solar panel system to be designed by Nippon Oil.

Solar panels capable of generating several kilowatts of electricity have been used on large vessels before but their use has been limited to power for the crew’s living quarters.

While this system would have to be implemented on a large scale to have any significant impact on emissions from the industry as a whole, it is a step in the right direction and could potentially persuade other companies to follow.

Check out gCaptain’s post on Skysails and more information on other green ship designs HERE.

IMC has a very complete post on alternative energy ideas for harnessing power from our oceans. They tell us;

Wave power refers to the energy of ocean surface waves and the capture of that energy to do useful work – including electricity generation, desalination, and the pumping of water (into reservoirs). Wave power is a form of renewable energy. Though often co-mingled, wave power is distinct from the diurnal flux of tidal power and the steady gyre of ocean currents. Wave power generation is not a widely employed technology, and no commercial wave farm has yet been established (although development for the first commercial wind farm in the Orkneys are well under way).

Read the full story:

Renewable Energy at Sea: Harnessing Wave Energy