GT Green Technologies

Idea

Introduction

We aim to accelerate the decarbonisation of the global shipping industry via development of the industry's most advanced wind propulsion technologies. Our first product, AirWing™, is an innovative wind propulsion system designed to maximise thrust and fuel savings from a compact unit.

The AirWing™ was devised in response to 3 challenges facing the shipping sector. Firstly, regulation is demanding that the sector quickly reduces fossil fuel emissions. Secondly, alternative fuels have limited market penetration, and remain expensive. Finally, wind propulsion devices that are on the market are typically large and cumbersome.

AirWing™ aims to solve these problems. Our novel AirFlow Technology strategically manipulates air movement within and around the device, enabling us to achieve industry-high thrust and lift coefficients (and therefore fuel savings!). This efficiency means our devices are smaller, ensuring we minimise the effect on vessel cargo operations by using less deck space.

Substantial accomplishments to date

● GT Green is backed by the UK Government with a grant of £3.7M to fund the manufacture and installation of the first AirWing™. This grant, announced in January 2024, follows on from c. £300k grant funding secured in 2023.

● In March 2023 we were awarded Start-up of the Year at the prestigious Maritime UK Awards, and in October that was followed by GT being awarded 'Green Start-up of the Year' at Rotterdam PortXL.

● We have partnered with Carisbrooke Shipping who will be installing our first unit on the 124 metre Vectis 11k vessel, with testing scheduled for late 2024/early 2025. After installation and testing we plan to move on to the commercial rollout of our product, aiming for multiple successful installations in H2 2025.

● Our intention is that the 20 metre unit will be followed by quick rollout of a 30 metre and 40 metre unit to service the majority of the global shipping fleet. We are designing the product in modular sections, providing us with two significant benefits. Firstly, we can scale quickly to bigger units, and secondly, we can ship our AirWing in 40 foot containers, allowing us to deploy and instal on ships anywhere globally.

● We have significant traction with large global ship owners, with several considering placing orders for 2025 deliveries. The market is growing rapidly. Independent studies for the EU estimate that >11,000 ships will employ wind propulsion by 2030 (vs ~35 today!) There is a huge market that is currently underserved, that GT is targeting.

Monetisation strategy

Our target market is ships globally that are immediately suitable for wind propulsion. We have performed performance studies for multiple global ship owners, many of whom are now in discussions about placing orders.

Our intention is to enter into firm sales contracts for multiple 20 metre units in 2024 for delivery in 2025. Following successful installation of these units, we aim to rapidly scale to the 30 metre and 40 metre units best suited to the largest tankers and bulk carriers.

We believe that the economics of the AirWing are highly attractive. Each unit has been designed to achieve full payback in <4 years, whilst also providing ship owners with significant opex and emissions savings over a 25 year life. As such, we are confident in our ability to generate resilient margins for GT as we scale up our manufacturing capacity.

Use of proceeds

Of the total £3.7m CMDC4 project grant, £2.75m is net to GT, of which 70% is funded (requiring GT to contribute ~£825k and the grant ~£1.9m). In addition to our £825k contribution, GT will also have other costs, including those for the development of follow-on products (30m and 40m units), corporate overheads etc.

As such, the £1.1m seed round (alongside our announced grant) will be allocated towards:

(i) the manufacture, installation and testing of our first 20 metre test unit;

(ii) the subsequent commercial roll out of the first manufacturing run of 20 metre units;

(iii) the ongoing design and development of the 30 metre and 40 metre products.