Collaborative turbine design for mobile green energy
DRIFT Energy has developed high-performance sailing ships that harvest deep sea wind to deliver green hydrogen worldwide. They generate energy by pulling turbines through the water under the vessel as they sail across the oceans that cover 70% of the worlds surface. These hydro-turbines feed energy onboard to a seawater-to-hydrogen power plant. The resulting green hydrogen is compressed and stored on the ship, ready to deliver to ports worldwide with sector beating efficiency guided by DRIFT’s proprietary GOLDILOCKS algorithm.
Specialist open-flow turbine knowledge
To create the most effective turbine design - an essential link in the vessel’s energy production chain - DRIFT turned to RISE, Sweden’s state-owned research institute and innovation hub. RISE contributed specialist expertise in open flow turbine geometry on a mobile vessel. Their input considered crucial factors such as turbine drag and the power developed at the hub, to design a harmonious turbine-vessel system that ensures maximum overall efficiency of the vessel.
Performance simulation of turbine design for DRIFT
Various turbine configurations, testing different blade numbers, shapes, and pitch angles were developed using CFD software.
Together, the teams developed a number of turbine configurations, testing a variety of blade numbers, shapes, and pitch angles using RISE’s inhouse computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. This performance data was then integrated into DRIFT’s performance modelling package, Gomboc Designer, where turbine-vessel designs were tested across hundreds of sailing conditions and millions of simulated sailing kilometres.
“RISE’s unique expertise on hydro-turbines in motion was invaluable to DRIFT in achieving a highly effective, integrated solution that maximises vessel performance, optimises the strengths of GOLDILOCKS and achieves the best possible power output for the whole vessel system.” Dylan Binding, Senior Performance Engineer at DRIFT
Accelerated baseline development
The partnership, which began in October 2024, leveraged RISE’s in-depth knowledge of turbine physics to accelerate the development of a baseline design specifically engineered for DRIFT’s energy-harvesting vessels.
Being so early in the energy generation chain, the design of the turbines is critical for optimising clean energy production across the whole system. Although they may visually resemble propellers, the underlying physics is fundamentally different. Propellers are designed to deliver power, and fixed or stationary turbines are much less sensitive to the impacts of drag. However, DRIFT’s unique mobile hydro-turbine application creates a very specific engineering challenge, where managing drag and achieving the optimal balance is key to a high-performance, energy-generating ship.
“When DRIFT asked us to support them in creating and delivering green energy worldwide, we happily accepted. DRIFT’s goals, of creating a way to diversify energy production, create energy independence and at the same time be on track towards zero-emissions very much aligned with ours. To be able to contribute to DRIFT Energy’s mission by applying our knowledge to their systems makes us extremely proud, and we are eager to continue the journey during 2026.” Magnus Wikander, Head of Strategic Development, Maritime Hydrodynamics at RISE
During 2026, DRIFT and RISE will focus on taking their first high-performance turbines through detailed design and into manufacture, ready for DRIFT’s first energy harvesting vessel.