Published on July 7th, 2009 | by Susan Kraemer

Toyota Tests Solar Power Cargo Ship; It's Seaworthy

Cargo ships are notorious for their noxious fumes, and California is hinting at finally introducing tough legislation requiring that shipping clean up its act.

So, sooner or later, you would expect to see a solar powered ship come chugging in to the Port of Long Beach in Southern California.

Well, here it is. A test case, at least:

Toyota’s 60,000-ton, seven story cargo ship can carry more than 6,200 cars at a time and regularly does so, transporting Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles from Toyota Motor Co. factories in Japan to Toyota’s 144-acre spread at this port in Los Angeles.

Normally, the eco-saintly Priuses onboard are heralded into port by the noxious fumes of climate-unfriendly fossils as they slide into the Golden State.

But seven months ago, (Wow. That places this decision right around the time of the financial apocalypse last Fall!) Toyota installed this test array, comprising 328 solar panels, on the top deck as an experiment to see if such a system would work effectively aboard a car carrier. So far, so good, State said, adding that not a single problem had arisen since the panels were installed last December.

“She may be the first of her kind,” he said, “for sure, she will not be the last.”

And additionally, now that their attention is on it; electrical engineers at Toyota’s headquarters in Japan have found solar modules that are three times more efficient than the ones used here. (“More efficient” just means it takes less space to make the same power; but, where space is an issue, as on a ship deck, efficiency just means that you can install more power in less space than you could before.)

Taciuc Dorin; the ship’s mechanical engineer said the ship could have been equipped with enough solar to supply a quarter of its demand – a 500 KW solar system. But this initial test installation was more to determine if sea conditions were too dangerous for making their own electricity on board. Even this smaller system and accompanying equipment cost $1.8 million.

Already, he said, the test had proven successful. In the seven months since the Auriga Leader got her solar arrays, there’s not been one “surprise,” he said, such as a break in the circuit because water had leaked into the system.

That would have been easy enough, he said, given the amount of wiring involved and the ship’s proximity to water, loads of water. But it hasn’t happened.

Via Green Car Advisor

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Tags: Auriga Leader, solar cargo ship, Toyota

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

russ

Hi Susan,

This story has many different variations.

1. The panels supply 7% to 10% of the ships power requirement when docked

2. Output seems to vary from 40 to 300 kW though the 40 kW seems correct. 328 panels of 210 watt apiece with poor solar exposure may get the 40 kW.

3. The ships power requirement in port seems to vary from 400 kW to 2000 kW – depending on which article it comes from.

4. There are either 300 or 328 panels (it is 328 like you say according to most posts)

5. Ships power – they would supply 0.03% of the ships power requirement while travelling

6. The cost was one of the following – 1.6 million USD or 1.68 or 1.8

1.6 million seems like a lot for 40kW – I thought the rooftop types were expensive at 6 to 8 USD per watt! This is 40 USD per watt

I can see that they probably have minimal use when the ship is underway due to the salt spray.

They claim 3 times the efficiency? If so maybe Toyota should use these rather than the Kyocera PV cells on their cars! I think this was just the ships engineer running on rather than fact. You read nothing about Toyota and PV cell development anywhere I can find.

These panels are mounted flat and fixed – they will rarely have decent exposure to the sun for a max output.

I think this is just a publicity stunt by Toyota. If so it is working they have made a lot of papers and blogs with it.

Solar powered ship? Solar powered publicity is more like it. I read people saying how great like there is room on the ship for adequate panels for even 10% of the power requirement – then others say put on sails – don’t think there is enough sail cloth in the world for even one ship of this size.
russ

Hi Susan,

This story has many different variations.

1. The panels supply 7% to 10% of the ships power requirement when docked

2. Output seems to vary from 40 to 300 kW though the 40 kW seems correct. 328 panels of 210 watt apiece with poor solar exposure may get the 40 kW.

3. The ships power requirement in port seems to vary from 400 kW to 2000 kW – depending on which article it comes from.

4. There are either 300 or 328 panels (it is 328 like you say according to most posts)

5. Ships power – they would supply 0.03% of the ships power requirement while travelling

6. The cost was one of the following – 1.6 million USD or 1.68 or 1.8

1.6 million seems like a lot for 40kW – I thought the rooftop types were expensive at 6 to 8 USD per watt! This is 40 USD per watt

I can see that they probably have minimal use when the ship is underway due to the salt spray.

They claim 3 times the efficiency? If so maybe Toyota should use these rather than the Kyocera PV cells on their cars! I think this was just the ships engineer running on rather than fact. You read nothing about Toyota and PV cell development anywhere I can find.

These panels are mounted flat and fixed – they will rarely have decent exposure to the sun for a max output.

I think this is just a publicity stunt by Toyota. If so it is working they have made a lot of papers and blogs with it.

Solar powered ship? Solar powered publicity is more like it. I read people saying how great like there is room on the ship for adequate panels for even 10% of the power requirement – then others say put on sails – don’t think there is enough sail cloth in the world for even one ship of this size.
MichaelBryant

I think ship like this can gasifi trash and burn the syn gas for power
MichaelBryant

I think ship like this can gasifi trash and burn the syn gas for power
russ

Right Michael – and pull a trailer behind it to carry the trash in!
russ

Right Michael – and pull a trailer behind it to carry the trash in!
http://dotcommodity.blogspot.com Susan Kraemer

“the ship’s mechanical engineer said the ship could have been equipped with enough solar to supply a quarter of its demand – a 500 KW solar system. But this initial test installation was more to determine if sea conditions were too dangerous for making their own electricity on board”

Sorry if I was not clear. A 500 KW system would have supplied 25% of the ships need at port (4 X 500 = 2,000) So, I agree: ship needs 2,000 KW system at port to zero out use.

I think that that is a goal (25% of port need) worth going for, and is not just greenwashing. Port needs are the most polluting part of the voyage.

This is clearly just a small test.

But I think you under rate this test – it’s not only 40 KW system if they used 328 panels: for example 328 216watt panels would give us a 71 KW system DC.

(But we both don’t know how many watts each of these panels were. No news stories gave that, so who knows. They only said the maximum size system they could have fit on the deck – 500 KW)

Yeah, different versions…I like my source.
http://dotcommodity.blogspot.com Susan Kraemer

“the ship’s mechanical engineer said the ship could have been equipped with enough solar to supply a quarter of its demand – a 500 KW solar system. But this initial test installation was more to determine if sea conditions were too dangerous for making their own electricity on board”

Sorry if I was not clear. A 500 KW system would have supplied 25% of the ships need at port (4 X 500 = 2,000) So, I agree: ship needs 2,000 KW system at port to zero out use.

I think that that is a goal (25% of port need) worth going for, and is not just greenwashing. Port needs are the most polluting part of the voyage.

This is clearly just a small test.

But I think you under rate this test – it’s not only 40 KW system if they used 328 panels: for example 328 216watt panels would give us a 71 KW system DC.

(But we both don’t know how many watts each of these panels were. No news stories gave that, so who knows. They only said the maximum size system they could have fit on the deck – 500 KW)

Yeah, different versions…I like my source.
http://jean.posterous.com/ Jean Vincent

Rigid Wing Sails, although more difficult to operate, could provide part of, if not all, the power required for the ship while traveling.

These sails would further provide a very large surface for thin-film photovoltaic cells to provide 100% of the power requirement while docked. The possibility to control sails inclination would further increase available power and reduce their cost.

This would not be greenwash.
http://jean.posterous.com/ Jean Vincent

Rigid Wing Sails, although more difficult to operate, could provide part of, if not all, the power required for the ship while traveling.

These sails would further provide a very large surface for thin-film photovoltaic cells to provide 100% of the power requirement while docked. The possibility to control sails inclination would further increase available power and reduce their cost.

This would not be greenwash.
http://charlesroring.blogspot.com Charles Roring

The installation of solar panels on the top deck of Toyota cargo ship will not give significant power to propel the ship especially cargo ship whose displacement is 60,000 tons. The power that is required to drive the ship is higher than what the photovoltaic modules can supply. So, the most suitable solution for that is hybrid system. The combination of conventional diesel engine and the solar power. That’s what I think
http://charlesroring.blogspot.com Charles Roring

The installation of solar panels on the top deck of Toyota cargo ship will not give significant power to propel the ship especially cargo ship whose displacement is 60,000 tons. The power that is required to drive the ship is higher than what the photovoltaic modules can supply. So, the most suitable solution for that is hybrid system. The combination of conventional diesel engine and the solar power. That’s what I think
Jack

This is a ridiculously ineffective, expensive attempt at greenwashing. The amount of power used while docked is trivial compared to the motive power used. How much less would it cost to run, say, an extension cord?

For airplanes, the future is in biofuels.

For mass transit and freight, the future is in electricity.

For personal transit, the future is in batteries with range extenders.

For larger ships, the future is in small passively safe nuclear reactors.

For smaller ships, the future is in copying the 99%+ reductions in certain emissions that ICE cars have made.
Jack

This is a ridiculously ineffective, expensive attempt at greenwashing. The amount of power used while docked is trivial compared to the motive power used. How much less would it cost to run, say, an extension cord?

For airplanes, the future is in biofuels.

For mass transit and freight, the future is in electricity.

For personal transit, the future is in batteries with range extenders.

For larger ships, the future is in small passively safe nuclear reactors.

For smaller ships, the future is in copying the 99%+ reductions in certain emissions that ICE cars have made.
Uncle B

somewhere between Solar and Wind power for intercontinental shipping lies a new cheaper solution to burning oil, and safer one than Nuking the oceans! Keep in mind, nuclear powered ships are already a fact of life! I suspect, for the long slow grind the Solar idea may supplement current methods to reduce costs, and unlike bunker “C: oil, the Solar energy is (nasty words for American capitalists) Perpetual, free energy! Oh Goddammit! no sales here!
Uncle B

somewhere between Solar and Wind power for intercontinental shipping lies a new cheaper solution to burning oil, and safer one than Nuking the oceans! Keep in mind, nuclear powered ships are already a fact of life! I suspect, for the long slow grind the Solar idea may supplement current methods to reduce costs, and unlike bunker “C: oil, the Solar energy is (nasty words for American capitalists) Perpetual, free energy! Oh Goddammit! no sales here!
http://greenoptions.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

Heh:

@Michael “I think ship like this can gasifi trash and burn the syn gas for power”

and @Russ “Right Michael – and pull a trailer behind it to carry the trash in!”

Too bad that Texas size Pacific gyre of trash is mostly plastic…otherwise: brilliant idea!
http://greenoptions.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer

Heh:

@Michael “I think ship like this can gasifi trash and burn the syn gas for power”

and @Russ “Right Michael – and pull a trailer behind it to carry the trash in!”

Too bad that Texas size Pacific gyre of trash is mostly plastic…otherwise: brilliant idea!
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