Cutting carbon emissions from offshore wind

A group of European offshore wind players will work with the Carbon Trust, a government industry body, to “measure and address” carbon emissions linked to construction and installation of turbines at sea.

The group includes BP, EnBW, Fred Olsen Seawind, Orsted, Parkwind, RWE, ScottishPower, Shell, SSE, TotalEnergies and Vattenfall. The aim is to spur the international industry to scale up “as sustainably as possible and continue its contribution” toward meeting global 2050 net-zero targets.

“Global climate targets cannot be met without stepping up renewable energy generation, and offshore wind is particularly crucial to the world’s transition away from fossil fuels,” said Carbon Trust offshore wind director Jan Matthiesen.
“While offshore wind energy generation has a significantly lower carbon impact than fossil fuels, the sector must also work collaboratively to de-couple its own value chain from carbon and resource-intensive models of production, deployment and operation, addressing key hotspots such as steel, cement and fuels.”

The group’s first project is targeting a standardised methodology to allow developers to calculate the lifecycle emissions of offshore wind assets, from upstream supply chain emissions through construction and into operations, with the spotlight on “key carbon emission drivers and hotspots in the offshore wind value chain and wind farm life cycle”.
The Carbon Trust highlighted that while over 55 GW of offshore wind had already been installed by the start of last year, the International Energy Agency has calculated a further 70–80 GW a year will need to be built annually from 2030 in order to achieve net zero by mid-century.

Commenting on the project, which is being delivered as part of the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Sustainability Joint Industry Programme, Matthiesen said “Our experience working with the industry through various joint industry projects is proof that collaboration is key,” noting that a first plan is expected to be released for use across the industry “by 2025”.

Source: Recharge, 2 February 2023, https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/steel-cement-and-fuels-european-energy...