| Project Detail |
Retrofitting ships for the future
Advances in science and technology have made it possible for energy-saving solutions to be adopted in retrofitting. In this context, the EU-funded RETROFIT55 project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35 % through retrofitting ships with new energy-saving solutions. Specifically, it will combine mature technologies (ship electrification and hydrodynamic design optimisation, operational optimisation) with two new technologies (wind-assisted ship propulsion and innovative air lubrication system). The end goal is to create a decision-support system that integrates these solutions. This will allow users to compare retrofitting options in terms of cost, return on investment, and performance. RETROFIT55 involves a consortium of universities, research institutions and ship operators, as well as experts in design and retrofit, alternative fuels, energy efficiency, electrification, and green digital technologies.
The proposal develops a combination of energy-saving solutions that can be adopted in retrofitting aimed at achieving the 35% of GHG emissions. Two new technologies, i.e. wind assisted ship propulsion and an innovative air lubrication system, will be developed together with other solutions that, although based on already mature technologies, such as operational and hydrodynamic design optimization and ship electrification, have to be expanded to be integrated with the new solutions as well as to cope with the constraints posed by the original ship design. The final objective of RETROFIT55 is to create an advanced web-based Decision Support System (DSS), that fuses together digital twins of the different systems into an integrated digital ship model. The DSS will feature a catalogue of retrofitting solutions that are up-to-date and ready to be deployed at the end of the project and easily extendable afterward while developed and demonstrated at TRL 7-8, suitable for different ship types and operational contexts. The DSS will enable the user to configure the retrofitting by combining different options which are suitable for the specific ship type and comparing them in terms of life-cycle cost, return-of-investment and several KPIs, such as EEXI, CII.
Referring to the ZEWT strategy, while primarily contributing to the Design and Retrofit, the implementation of the project will also intersect other topics, such as Use of Sustainable Alternative fuels, Energy Efficiency, Electrification and Digital Green.
The consortium brings together universities and research institutions, three developers of the new technologies, a ship design office, software developers, ICT experts, a classification society, a ship-repair company, and two large ship operators. |
