According to Liz Wardley "We have sailed for 3500 miles with the generator through the boat's stern and during that time we did not have to turn on the engine. We usually start the engine between an hour and an hour and a half each day."

The Volvo Ocean Race will install a new hydroenerator that will act as a reserve energy source of the Volvo Penta engine on each of the Volvo Ocean 65 fleet ships, as part of a process of remodeling a million euros per boat being carried out in Lisbon, which is an important milestone in the commitment to energy self-sufficiency in the race. The eight ships, the seven of the last edition plus the new ship that is being built in Persico Marine in Italy, will have the unit, which is already in a position to provide enough energy to run the essential systems of on-board in case of mechanical failure.

Depending on the results in the tests that are being done continuously before the race, their use could sometimes be mandatory during the 2017-18 edition in order to offer results under real conditions of competition and begin to reduce the amount of fuel used by ships for their electronic systems. The unit has already been installed on a boat to test, and the results have been significant, according to the director of Boats and Maintenance of the race, Nick Bice:"Our tests have not shown any obvious impact on speed in terms of increased resistance..." "In recent years, we have worked a lot with alternative energies," he explained. "In practice the hydroenerator is a propeller that you drop down the boat's stern, as if it were a small outboard, which rotates with the water stream, generating electricity that feeds the ship's batteries." "Our tests have not shown any obvious impact on the speed in terms of increased resistance. The results have been positive enough to convince me that there is no reason why in the future we cannot be energy-self-sufficient in the field of race."