Offshore Wind Giants Join Forces to Address Carbon Emissions

Eleven offshore wind developers are partnering with the Carbon Trust to develop methodology and guidance to measure and address the carbon emissions associated with offshore wind farms throughout their lifecycle.

The offshore wind developers that joined forces with the Carbon Trust are bp, EnBW, Fred. Olsen Seawind, Ørsted, Parkwind, RWE, ScottishPower Renewables, Shell, SSE Renewables, TotalEnergies, and Vattenfall.

The developers will work in collaboration with the UK-headquartered organisation as part of the new Offshore Wind Sustainability Joint Industry Programme to develop the first industry-backed methodology and guidance to measure and address the carbon emissions associated with offshore wind farms throughout their lifecycle.

This includes emissions from the manufacturing of the materials and installation of wind farms.

According to the Carbon Trust, the aim of this work is to help the global offshore wind industry scale as sustainably as possible and continue its important contribution towards meeting the world’s net zero target by 2050 and limiting the most extreme impacts of climate change.

A standardised methodology would ensure that the scale of installation needed is delivered in a low-carbon way and encourage comparability across developers and assets.

The first project delivered as part of the new programme will develop the first standardised methodology to enable developers to calculate the lifecycle emissions of their offshore wind assets, including their upstream supply chain emissions, the construction phase, and the operation phase.

The project will also engage with the industry to improve data quality and availability and promote greater supply chain transparency as well as identify key carbon emission drivers and hotspots in the offshore wind value chain and wind farm lifecycle.

The programme officially kicks off in January 2023 with the methodology expected to be released for use across the industry by 2025.

“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 Jan Matthiesen, Director of Offshore Wind at the Carbon Trust.

“Our experience working with the industry through various joint industry projects is proof that collaboration is key. Over the last fourteen years, we have been focused on scaling up the offshore wind market through our Joint Industry Programmes, such as the Offshore Wind Accelerator and the Floating Wind Joint Industry Programme.”

By the end of 2021, 55 GW of offshore wind capacity was installed globally, with over a third of this being installed within 2021, according to the Global Offshore Wind Report launched by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) 

However, according to International Energy Agency (IEA), an additional 70-80 GW will need to be installed every year from 2030 in order to achieve net zero by 2050.

Follow offshoreWIND.biz on: