The Finnish Climate Fund, a state-owned special-assignment company focusing on combating climate change, has granted on a capital loan of up to €10m to rotor sail manufacturer Norsepower in order to help increase its production capacity.
Norsepower’s products save significant amounts of fuel and can enable emissions reductions measured in the millions of tonnes of CO2 during the next decade.
Shipping emissions are a major climate challenge. Approximately 2.5% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions are generated by shipping, and shipping accounts for 13.5% of the EU’s total GHG emissions. Shipping emissions are projected to grow without further action, therefore, the development and scale-up of emissions-reducing solutions for the shipping sector is crucial.
Norsepower reduces emissions by providing ships with wind-powered propulsion using the company’s proprietary rotor sail. Depending on the wind conditions, Norsepower’s product can reduce the vessel’s fuel consumption by 5–25%, which generates a significant reduction in shipping emissions.
Norsepower CEO Tuomas Riski said: ”The future of shipping is emission free, and Norsepower’s technology for cutting fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions is a part of that future. Norsepower is an ambitious growth company and the Climate Fund’s investment accelerates the scale-up of our production considerably from what we could have achieved with organic growth alone. The involvement of a state entity also lends us credibility abroad.”
Paula Laine, CEO Finnish Climate Fund, said: ”The reduction of shipping emissions is an important step on the way to carbon-neutral logistics and transport. Like many others, this climate challenges requires several parallel solutions. Norsepower’s rotor sails are an immediately available solution, especially for emissions-intensive ocean tankers. The Climate Fund’s investment accelerates the product’s scale-up on the market and thus also its emissions reductions.”
