''Auriga Leader'' is a car carrier, owned by

Nippon Yusen The , also known as NYK Line, is a Japanese shipping company. The company headquarters are located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It operates a fleet of over 820 ships, which includes container ships, Tanker (ship), tankers, bulk and woodchip carrie ...

Kaisha, and used for mobile machineries and cars worldwide; for example,

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

vehicles from Japan to the rest of the world. A small amount of the ship's power is produced by

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

panels.

Experimental

Kaisha and Nippon Oil developed the ''Auriga Leader'' partly as an experimental vessel, where it is supposed to gather statistical research in how solar power can assist in powering a ship at sea. The ship's experimental stage was planned for two years.

Results

The solar panels produced 1.4 times more energy on the ship at sea than on land in Tokyo. It is not known what factors had an impact on this, but it is suggested that being at sea means more sunlight and that the wind encountered cools off the panels and thus increases efficiency.

Efficiency

The ''Auriga Leaders solar power capabilities produced an anticipated 0.05% of the ship's propulsion power and 1% of its electrical usage. This will contribute to lowering the ship's fuel usage by approximately 13 tonnes and its CO₂ output by 40 tonnes per year.

References

{{reflist Ships of Japan Ships of the NYK Line 2008 ships Ro-ro ships Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries