With the aim of becoming emission-free by 2040, Scandlines has installed a Norsepower Rotor Sail on the Scandlines hybrid ferry, M/V Berlin.
Since 2013, Scandlines has invested more than EUR 300 million in building and converting conventional ferries into hybrid ferries. In 2020, the ferry operator added environmentally friendly wind propulsion technology to the list of green initiatives by installing a Norsepower Rotor Sail on the hybrid ferry Copenhagen, which operates on the Rostock-Gedser route between Germany and Denmark. Scandlines has reduced CO2 emissions from the hybrid ferry by an average of 4% and on good days with optimal wind conditions by as much as 20%.
The Rotor Sail, a 30 metre rotating cylinder, is a modern version of the Flettner rotor, and the technology is based on the Magnus effect. When wind meets the spinning Rotor Sail, the airflow accelerates on one side of the Rotor Sail and decelerates on the opposite side. The change in the speed of airflow results in a pressure difference, which creates a lift force that is perpendicular to the wind flow direction. This lift force allows Scandlines to reduce the use of diesel engines and therefore reduces both the fuel consumption and associated emissions.
The technology has the optimum effect when there is a wind blowing 20 m/s a little abaft abeam and the wind is perpendicular to the sail. The route between Gedser to the north and Rostock to the south is almost perpendicular to the prevailing wind from the west (or a little less frequently east) giving Scandlines favourable conditions for using Rotor Sails on the crossing.
The Norsepower Rotor Sail solution is fully automated. The system measures the wind speed and direction and based on these measurements calculates whether use of the Rotor Sail will reduce emissions. If so, the Rotor Sail starts automatically. However, for specific port areas which are not suitable for Rotor Sail use, the Rotor Sail solution has settings to ensure the technology will not be activated.
