Vestas eyes 70% emission cut with 'world's first' methanol run offshore wind vessel

Vestas as part of its push to become carbon neutral by 2030 has signed a five-year charter for what the Danish wind turbine OEM said is the world’s first methanol-powered crew transfer vessel (CTV) for offshore wind.

The dual-fuel ship from vessel supplier Northern Offshore Services holds the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 70% by replacing common marine gas oil with methanol. The exact carbon reduction potential will be validated during the charter, Vestas said, also adding that the CTV can fall back on marine gas oil if methanol is not available.

“Service vessels drive a significant portion of Vestas’ direct carbon emissions, and while there are several promising new technologies that provide a solution to this challenge, many are still in the early stages of maturity,” said Kieran Walsh, senior vice president for service, at Vestas Northern & Central Europe.

“To drive decarbonisation, we need to see solutions like methanol fuel maturing much faster.”

The CTV next year will be deployed at the OEM’s service operations at Parkwind’s Arcadis Ost site in the German Baltic Sea.

Vestas runs service operations across 7GW of offshore wind projects in seven different markets. Accounting for one third or Vestas’ scope 1&2 emissions, reducing carbon emissions associated with offshore operations is a high priority in Vestas’ journey towards becoming carbon neutral, the company said.