‘We will see a lot of solar powered ships’ The program included lectures from Bureau Veritas about regulations, TNO about Innovative Ship’s Networks; Fugro, Greenpeace and Drivetek explained policies and highlighted recent projects like Fugro Searcher, Rainbow Warrior III and PlanetSolar. Imtech elaborated on the latest technology developments in green ship power. The guests were then guided on a tour around the premises of Imtech Marine & Offshore and were shown examples of energy technology and drive systems in production for several projects, as well as simulation possibilities. Some 80 people from five different countries in the maritime industry of several segments (yachting, offshore, naval, shipbuilding) were present at the event and also participated in an interesting forum discussion where a number of theses on ‘green shipping’ and ‘green ship power’ were discussed. The theses were varied and presented by all the speakers in the program, which resulted in an interesting discussion. For example: ‘Green ships are ok, as long as there are no extra investments required’, ‘Can you be competitive without having a green policy as part of your corporate social responsibility strategy?’ and ‘In the next five years the costs for solar modules and batteries will dramatically decrease – we will see a lot of solar powered ships’ to ‘Ship owners are conventional and are not ready for new technology such as DC-mains, electronic emergency generators, solar and wind energy and fuel cells’. Bureau Veritas added: ‘Next to the technical and economical lifespan of a vessel, we now have to deal with the environmental lifespan too.’

All information concerning the event, including documents, presentations and online forum, can be found on www.imtechmarinegroup.com/greenenergy.