Feasibility study of incorporating vertical axis wind turbine on boat

Abstract

Rising of fuel price, global warming, and dependency on oil was encouraged researches to find alternatives solution in order to minimize the dependency on the fuel. One of the alternative solutions is by using wind turbine as a renewable energy. Wind turbine can propel a boat at all directions to the wind including directly to windward. This thesis presents a study the usage of wind turbine assisted propulsion system on boat as second device. Savonius type of wind turbine was chosen as a second device for Discovery IX which is one of FMSM research boat. This turbine was designed and the amount of power saving was calculated base on previous study. Then, economic analysis was analyzed based on the propulsion force of the turbine. By using this device, it shows that it can save fuel consumption up to 40% in operation cost with selected route. The results of the analysis indicate that Annual Average Cost (AAC) for boat with wind turbine is low than the boat without wind turbine. Investment of the Savonius wind turbine on the Discovery IX takes 1 year to recover.