Fresh from the wind farm, power for your boat

Innovative tech will allow electric ships to power up directly from offshore turbines.

Stillstrom's offshore charging buoy, which would allow idling vessels to plug in and turn off their diesel engines. Image: Maersk Supply Service.

(A native of England, Matthew Diebel is a veteran journalist who has worked at NBC News, Time, USA Today and News Corp., among other organizations. Having spent his childhood next to one of the world's fastest bodies of water, he is particularly interested in tidal energy.)

This is the kind of headline we love to see: “Offshore wind farms could double as charging stations for electric ships.”

Just 11 words provide a rare triple-threat treat. First, there’s the vision of huge cargo ships or cruise liners getting their electric juice direct from those giant turbines. Quite a sight. Then there’s the notion that smog-belching boats are going to be replaced by sleek and silent (and pollution-free) vessels. And then there’s the image of huge cables and plugs — take that, Tesla (TSLA) — guiding clean electricity into the boats’ batteries.

But it’s not just an impractical pipe dream. Quite the opposite, in fact. As Canary Media reports, at least three wind-to-ship projects are set to start pilot testing this year in the United Kingdom, which has (after China), the highest amount of total offshore wind capacity installed in the world.

It’s starting modestly, with service ships ferrying crew and equipment to build and maintain wind farms being powered by the very electricity they’re helping to produce. But it’s yet another indication, as we reported, that the development of battery-powered boats — all the way from family runabouts to ocean-going container ships — is fast becoming a reality.

So, what better than picking up green energy from the source — and avoid having to hook up in a crowded port?

And the results could aid what may be a spectacular revolution. At present, the maritime sector is notoriously polluting, with few regulations and huge boats belching out diesel smoke that causes about 4% of the world’s carbon emissions. But things are changing, with hundreds of passenger and car carriers in ferry-intensive Norway already powered by batteries. Meanwhile, the world’s largest shipper, Denmark’s Maersk (AMKBY), is looking at both green methanol (made using renewable electricity) and battery power to drive its giant boats.

All developments — just like that headline — that float our boat.