Universities and Science Minister David Willetts visits £2m ETI project involving Rolls-Royce & UCL

David Willetts MP, the Minister for Universities and Science, has visited the Energy Technologies Institute’s (ETI) £2m marine technology project in London which seeks to increase the efficiency of British shipping by more than 30%. 

The project is being delivered by University College London (UCL) and ETI member Rolls-Royce.  The work carried out by UCL is being undertaken by researchers from both UCL Energy Institute and UCL Mechanical Engineering. 

To date the project has completed the creation and integration of a full-scale shipping model that is focussed on the shipping activity and vessels involved in the UK’s sea-based transportation needs. This model has leveraged Rolls-Royce’s technology knowledge at a vessel level and combined with UCL’s capabilities to understand and model the shipping network. This work has built upon the Low Carbon Shipping project led by UCL and funded in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

This ETI project is focusing on developing a range of highly efficient concept vessels by combining state of the art data and modelling techniques from academia with commercial knowledge and technology development expertise from industry. 

The vessel types under study are typical of those used to transport goods to, from and around the UK coastline. If successful, this project could lead to a further £8m being invested into a large-scale demonstration of a best vessel concept and the technologies it uses. 

Shipping currently contributes £26.5bn to UK GDP1 and could account for as much as 11 per cent of Britain’s total greenhouse gases by 20502 unless improved efficiencies are developed. 

David Willetts, the Minister for Universities and Science, speaking during the visit to UCL, said: “Shipping contributes billions to the UK economy but produces a significant amount of greenhouse gases. This ambitious project draws on our leading science and research expertise to design more energy efficient vessels, with significant benefits for growth and the environment.” 

David Clarke, Chief Executive of the ETI, said: “We have been looking at how innovation in technology in the field of heavy duty transportation can provide a step-change improvement in energy efficiency. We see marine vessels as an important component part of any transport portfolio and this project is in addition to our already established work on land-based heavy duty vehicles. Improved efficiencies should yield cost advantages for operators as well as addressing emissions reductions in fleet operation.” 

Sauli Eloranta, Rolls-Royce, Executive Vice President, Engineering & Technology - Marine said: “Global shipping plays a crucial role in the UK economy, so improvements to the efficiency and environmental performance of the merchant fleet will bring future benefits in terms of reducing operating costs and emissions. We’re delighted to be working with the ETI and UCL on this project which will see our combined expertise explore and define innovative ways of ‘greening’ the fleet.” 

Tristan Smith, UCL Energy Institute,  leading the project at UCL, said: “This project builds on research carried out in a large multi-disciplinary project Low Carbon Shipping – A Systems Approach, which started in 2010, funded by the RCUK Energy programme and a number of industry partners. This new development demonstrates the importance of previous funding and close collaboration with industry in generating new technologies. It is extremely rewarding to be deploying models and analysis built originally for research purposes in real-world commercial applications which have the potential to produce significant reductions in the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.”

This project, which has now been running for almost 12 months, is part of a £40m ETI transport technology programme designed to improve heavy duty vehicle (HDV) efficiency. Launched last year by Business Secretary, Dr Vince Cable, the programme is designed to look at improving systems integration and technology development across the HDV sector, with an aim to increase efficiency in land and marine vehicles by up to 30%.