Energy Sail Ships

Sammanfattning: Oceans offer a vast supply of energy through ever-present winds and currents. Offshore wind energy alone could provide many times the current global energy demand. One concept approach that aims to tap into these reserves are energy sail ship, wind powered vessel that take advantage of oceanic energy to produce and store harvested energy. This report studies the different systems involved in designing an energy sail ship; finding suitable waters to operate, shell vessel design, wind propulsion method, electricity generation, and hydrogen production and storage.Suitable operating waters are identified as having strong prevailing winds and currents, as well as proximity to land. One particularly suitable example of this is the southern coast of New Zealand, which is studied in this report. Catamarans are identified for use as energy sail ship design, as they offer low water resistance as well as large surface areas needed to place systems. Three methods of ship propulsion are considered; Flettner rotors, Parawings and Wing sails. A method of effective and reliable saltwater electrolysis is identified, with cells that last thousands of hours without maintenance. Finally, hydrogen storage methods are evaluated, including chemical conversion into methanol or ammonium, as well as compressed hydrogen storage.A simplified energy analysis is preformed to determine an approximate energy efficiency of a theorized ESS that utilizes proposed technologies. The energy sail ship was found to produce roughly 2.5 GWh.