Nippon Yusen, Nippon Oil launch Solar-Powered Cargo Ship
Source: TradingMarkets.com, December 21, 2008
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2095252/
Nippon Yusen KK (TSE:9101) and Nippon Oil Corp. (TSE:5001) held a ceremony Friday to flip the switch on an oceangoing car carrier powered in part by solar cells. The ship can transport as many as 6,200 cars, and its maiden voyage will be to the Middle East hauling cars made by Toyota Motor Corp. (TSE:7203). The deck of the carrier is fitted with 328 large solar modules which together can supply as much as 40kw of power. Nippon Oil developed the solar power system. This is the world’s first large ship to use solar cells as an integral power source.
Nippon Yusen is hurrying to develop energy efficient ships, and it will collaborate with Nippon Oil to collect data on the car carrier. Nippon Yusen seeks to learn how well the solar power system holds up to salt, wind and vibrations, in addition to calculating how much carbon savings the use of solar power provides. After two years the companies plan to build on the system by adding storage batteries that can save power generated by the solar cells and supply it at night and in bad weather.