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Since the International Maritime Organization has paved the way towards zero emissions, more frequent applications of transition fuels in newly constructed ships have been observed. Fuels such as LNG or methanol are characterised by lower emissions when burned in engines. In order to diminish fuel consumption, and hence the rate of emission, support for the performance of a ship's engines with energy from renewable sources such as photovoltaic (PV) installations is increasingly common. The efficiency of PV panels decreases with an increase in temperature, and it is therefore important to cool them. However, the cooling systems for PV panels impose additional financial outlays as well as a higher demand for electric power, which is needed to run the circulating pumps. A natural cooling process can occur in some vessels via high sea waves, when the ship's decks are flooded by outboard water, although such cooling has an accidental and periodic character, as it results from weather conditions. Despite this, its potential demands a closer examination. This paper presents experimental research carried out with an experimental setup that allowed us to simulate the process of flooding of a PV panel with water waves of various frequencies, resulting from choppy periods at sea. Depending on the weather conditions and the character of flooding, our results indicate that an increase in the power of the PV module of about 18% is obtainable. Our research shows that when the intervals between flooding are longer, the periodic character of the temperature changes obtained by flooding the front surface of a PV panel with water is more distinctive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to reduce by half the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by marine ships by 2050, and its vision of the fastest total decarbonisation in the maritime shipping industry within the present century, calls for implementation with various means of decarbonisation. The IMO approaches the process of decarbonisation in two phases. Firstly, short-term, compact projects are to be considered, next, more complex, medium- and long-term solutions should be aimed at. The preferred arrangements to be applied are photovoltaic systems. Their performance depends to a high degree on the solar incidence angle. In the case of a ship swinging as a result of its course in relation to the wave and incidence direction, the incidence angle undergoes significant periodic changes with a significant effect on the power generated by the PV panels. As a result, the total amount of energy produced by the PV panels diminishes. The paper presents experimental research results obtained on the stand that allowed the investigation of PV panels in simulated marine conditions. Two characteristic positions of a PV panel's rotation axis in relation to the solar rays' incidence direction were investigated. It was proved for both variants that the rolling period and solar incidence angle affected the power generated by the PV panel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]