Interview with Greg Atkinson

Featured Engineer

Greg Atkinson

Greg Atkinson - Director, Eco Marine Power Co. Ltd.

How did you get into eco-friendly power and propulsion systems?

I became involved via some market research work I was doing in late 2009 at Ohori Capital. As I was doing this work I started to think of concepts and ideas that could perhaps be interesting design projects and some of these have ended up as projects at Eco Marine Power (EMP). I had spent some time many years ago in the Royal Australian Navy (in electrical engineering) so my time spent at sea helps me quite a bit when looking at possible design concepts.

What is the biggest challenge with using the latest solar module, lithium battery, propulsion and power management technologies?

The biggest challenges now relate to cost, weight and coming up with solutions that are practical as opposed to one-off concept designs that might look impressive, but are not going to be commercially viable. There are plenty of “cool” things that can be done but when you look into them in detail they don’t make a lot of sense either because they really don’t save a lot of fuel or are overly complicated and costly.

It’s also a challenge to take into account the entire life-cycle of a system which means for example we look at how ‘green’ the manufacturing of each system component is and how these can be recycled at the end of their service life.

In terms of operation costs, will the Tonbo be able to significantly outperform vessels using traditional diesel propulsion systems?

The Tonbo is being designed to deliver annual fuel savings costs of at least 15% when compared to a diesel powered vessel of a similar size operating in the same way. We are also looking at ways to make the solar-electric power and propulsion system easy to maintain and simple to operate. It will also comply with the relevant International Maritime Organization (IMO) emission reduction targets.

How will technology being developed for the Tonbo solar hybrid marine power (HMP) vessel and Medaka eco solar ferry be incorporated into a large ship design?

We are still at the early stages of looking into this, but one area we are interested in is how to better use solar power on large ships rather than simply mounting solar panels somewhere on the deck. We are also looking to see how a solar/wind power solution can be better integrated into existing large ship electrical propulsion systems.

How does rigid solar panel sail technology work?

The rigid solar panel sails used on the EMP Aquarius System will collect solar energy via solar modules mounted on either side of the panel which in turn can also act as a sail to help move the ship through the water. Just using a sail is not much good when there is no wind and just having solar panels is not much good when it’s overcast or at night, but having both a solar and wind option gives the overall system more flexibility. At night for example when the wind is blowing then the system will help reduce fuel consumption and if there is no wind during the day, the panels can be positioned to collect solar energy. In good conditions the panels will tap into the power of the wind and the sun!

A large ship would use an array (i.e. up to 14) of these rigid solar panel sails which in turn will be controlled by a central control system that we are developing with a technology partner here in Japan. This control system includes a range of safety features and will also allow for the sail panels to be automatically positioned to best suit weather conditions without any crew intervention.

I believe that rigid and flexible sails will both see resurgence in International Shipping in the years ahead. For very large ships the main engines will still be required, but sails will play an important role in reducing fuel consumption and lowering harmful emissions. For smaller ships, modern sail power solutions will be able to be the main source of propulsion in certain cases just as it was in the 1800’s.

What is on your bookshelf?

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller), The Civilized Engineer (Samuel C Florman), an assortment of engineering and business books plus a heap of paperwork I am trying to hide.

What has been your favorite project?

A telecoms product improvement project some years ago simply because at the start I was sure we would never achieve anything, but were eventually able to solve quite a few bugs, problems and design related issues.

Do you have any note-worthy engineering experiences?

I once got my hand stuck in a rack of servo’s and every time I tried to get my hand out I would come in contact with 115V which made escape seem impossible. Luckily the power supply switch was within foot range and after a few minor shocking attempts I kicked off the power and made my escape.

I have blown up many things over the years especially when I was a hand-ons technician, but these days I restrict myself to blowing up home domestic appliances.

What are you currently working on?

The detailed system design for the Aquarius wind & solar power system for ships plus a few solar-electric propulsion solution designs for smaller vessels.

What direction do you see your business heading in the next few years?

I expect there will be a lot more focus on getting solar-electric and wind power propulsion and power systems onto ships of all sizes. Most of the worlds trade is carried by sea so there is plenty of room to reduce fuel consumption and airborne pollution on a global scale by using technology to harness the power of the wind and sun on-board ships. I think smaller design focused companies like Eco Marine Power will play an important role in coming up with new ideas and solutions that will help make International shipping a lot more environmentally friendly in the years ahead.

Eco Marine Power Co. Ltd has also been short-listed for two awards. You can find more details here.

What challenges do you foresee in our industry?

Within the green/renewable energy sector solutions need to be developed that make sense taking into account such things total life-cycle costs, the total impact they have on environment and their suitability for commercial applications.

In the area of renewable energy for ships for example, some concepts look very promising on paper but if you start to think about how much they would cost to build and operate over 20 or 25 years then their viability comes into question. I don’t think it is reasonable to assume that wind, solar or hybrid marine power systems are almost maintenance free especially when they are mounted on ships, so these costs need to be taken into account.

We also need to think about the total impact on the environment (on a global scale) and this includes the energy used to manufacture system components and also the energy needed to operate, maintain and dispose of them. From an engineering point of view these factors need to be taken into account in the design stage and that is something we focus on quite a bit at Eco Marine Power.

Lastly raising funding is a major challenge. The development period for marine power systems can be very long due to type approval and marine certification issues and so this places a major strain on the financial resources of the companies developing these systems.