Norsepower Oy Ltd, a Finnish company and global leader in mechanical wind propulsion, has successfully tested its next-generation Norsepower Sentient Control™ (NPSC™) system aboard two ocean-going vessels, according to the company's release.
Leveraging advanced AI and data-driven optimisation, the system delivered fuel performance improvements of 8.2 % and 20.6 % over legacy control systems.
On-board trials, conducted on ships operating on different trade routes with distinct rotor sail arrangements, confirmed consistent outperformance by NPSC™, particularly on vessels with multiple Norsepower Rotor Sails™, where adaptive algorithms optimised sail interaction dynamics.
“This is a major milestone for the wind propulsion industry,” stated Heikki Pöntynen, CEO of Norsepower. “With Norsepower Sentient Control™, our customers are not only saving more fuel, but they’re also gaining a measurable advantage in the regulatory landscape.”
The system is now available to existing and future customers and integrates patented rotor sail force feedback with machine learning for real-time adaptation.
Key features include force feedback, machine learning optimisation, power‑management aligned with Specific Fuel Oil Consumption models, real‑time hydrodynamic optimisation including lateral forces and rudder compensation, and voyage-level routing customisation based on vessel-specific models.
The control system forms part of the Norsepower Digital Dimension ecosystem, alongside Norsepower Cloud™, which supports secure data collection, emissions tracking and portfolio-wide savings.
With further installations underway, company data suggests additional savings are achievable, particularly on vessels with larger or more complex rotor sail configurations.
In February 2024, Norsepower secured its largest rotor sail order to date with Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS (LDA) for a fleet chartered by Airbus. That agreement marked the first deployment of Norsepower Sentient Control™ on multiple vessels—each outfitted with six 35 m Norsepower Rotor Sails™—and projected to reduce CO₂ emissions by approximately 50 % on transatlantic routes by 2030.
Norsepower Oy Ltd is a Finnish limited company headquartered in Helsinki, Norway. Norsepower is the original provider of Rotor Sail technology. Established in 2012, the company operates global offices and a rotor sail factory in Dafeng, China. Its core product, the Norsepower Rotor Sail™, has been installed on over 18 ships with 32 units operational as of March 2025, with another 40 units pending. The company holds more than 70 rotor sail patents, including its AI‑enabled Sentient Control™ system, and offers comprehensive digital services through its Digital Dimension ecosystem and Cloud solution.
Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS is a French shipowner, LDA operates a fleet of RoRo and other cargo vessels and chartered a new fleet to Airbus.