Modeling the Electric Power Consumption of a Yacht

Abstract

The increasing concerns over the impacts of the maritime industry on the environment over the last decades has led to the creation of regulations to combat these negatives effects by the International Maritime Organization. Within the yachting industry, there is no consensus on whether these regulations can be fairly applied to yachts and there appears to be a research gap when it comes to auxiliary power consumption. The Yacht Environmental Transparency Index (YETI), currently under development by the Water Revolution Foundation, aims at attributing a score to a yacht according to its environmental impact and, for this, the calculation of auxiliary power consumption plays a large role. Due to the complexity of the dynamic behavior of the hundreds of electric consumers on board, predicting this electric power consumption becomes a demanding task. This research will analyze data from several yachts built at different shipyards in an attempt to find statistically significant correlations between installed power and certain sizing characteristics. The often subjective load factors included in load balances are kept in consideration and a possible reduction factor based on received feedback is studied. In the end, the goal is to arrive at an estimation of auxiliary power consumption for yachts between 30 and 180 meters in length.