THE CRITICAL ROLE OF ACCURATE WIND MEASUREMENT FOR WIND ASSISTED SHIP PROPULSION WIND MEASUREMENT FOR WIND ASSISTED SHIP PROPULSION Over the following pages we have analysed the potential bene昀椀ts and limitations of the sensing technologies available to the Wind Assisted ship propulsion (WASP) industry. ANEMOMETERS ANEMOMETERS Complexity of Installation Calibration requirements Susceptibility to motions Total life cycle cost Accuracy Since the very 昀椀rst system applications of wind energy harvesting from propulsion by the 昀椀rst entrants in the respective market, the primary input source for measuring incoming wind conditions to the system is the ship’s Anemometer. The Anemometer is usually installed above the Navigation bridge of a typical commercial cargo or passenger vessel, which lays in the air draft region of 35-54 meters high from the loaded waterline (depending on the ship size, depth and height of accommodation) and situated from minimum 20 meters up to maximum 200 meters from the most proximal Wind propulsion unit (Figure 3), depending on the ship’s length and size. To enhance the wind measuring input to a given WASP system of which the sail arrangement is distributed widely across the ship’s main deck (such as the one shown in Figure 3), a 2nd anemometer can be added closer to the farthest forward installed units, ideally of a better quality than the bridge anemometer installed by the Yard, sometimes including an additional GPS (named as ‘weather station’ by some technology providers). Figure 3: Typical Anemometer on the navigation bridge of an Oil Tanker, feeding wind data to four Rotor Sails installed in various deck locations[1], 昀椀gure taken from BlueWEEK WASP Mallorca event presentation by Finocean. 8