Technology

  1. WIND ENERGY CAPTURE

    By means of Flettner rotors (modern sail technology), the wind is used to propel the ship.

    water turbine

  2. ELECTRICITY GENERATION

    The ship velocity makes the water turbine rotate, thus generating electricity.

  3.  

  4. ENERGY STORAGE

    The energy is stored onboard. Depending on markets, it is stored in batteries; or converted to hydrogen through water electrolysis or liquid fuel (methanol) using an onboard power-to-liquid plant. It can also be converter to ammonia for green chemistry.

ENERGY SHIP

The core technology of FARWIND energy solutions is the energy ship, which is a disruptive technology for offshore wind energy conversion.

At first, energy ships are ships propelled by the wind. In FARWIND’s energy ships, wind propulsion is obtained using Flettner rotors, which are vertical rotating cylinders which convert wind into a propulsion force through the Magnus effect.

Energy ships are equipped with water turbines which convert the ship’s kinetic energy to electricity.

Energy ships being mobile, the generated electricity must be stored on-board. Depending on customers needs, the energy is stored in battery or converted in an energy vector.

Possible energy vectors include hydrogen, methanol or ammonia. They are obtained using onboard power-to-gas/liquid plants. In case of methanol or ammonia, the necessary feedstock (CO2 or N2) are supplied from onland sustainable sources.

Competitive funding & Awards

industrial & academic Partners

SUPPORTs & Investors

Science

FARWIND ENERGY builds upon 5 years of scientific research carried out at Ecole Centrale de Nantes, which is one of the world-leading university for marine renewable energy research.

Aurélien Babarit (MSc., PhD) used to work at Ecole Centrale de Nantes as a research scientist before being a founder of FARWIND ENERGY.

From 2012 to 2020, he was the head of the Ocean Waves and Ocean Energy group. In 2016, together with Jean-Christophe GILLOTEAUX (MSc., PhD), he assembled a team and started investigations of the energy ship.

To learn more about the main outcomes of their research, we recommend reading the following articles: