A “first-of-a-kind” methodology to standardise how the carbon footprint of an offshore wind farm is measured has been published today by the Offshore Wind Sustainability Joint Industry Programme (SUS JIP).
The Carbon Trust collaborated with twelve SUS JIP industry partners – representing around a quarter of installed wind farm capacity globally – to devise the methodology.
These include BP, EnBW, Equinor, Fred Olsen Seawind, Parkwind, Orsted, RWE, ScottishPower Renewables, Shell, SSE Renewables, Total Energies, and Vattenfall.
The methodology also received input from several international research bodies, public bodies, industry, and wind trade associations as part of a consultation process.
The collaborative initiative aims to help the global offshore wind industry scale up as sustainably as possible to meet global Net Zero targets by 2050.
This new methodology is a key first step in the delivery of commitments made by many offshore wind developers to reduce emissions and will improve the transparency of carbon emission data increasingly required by regulatory bodies, The Carbon Trust said.
It is expected to enable more accurate and standardised assessments of carbon footprints across the full lifecycle of offshore wind developments.
The methodology is applicable to fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind, whether prospective, operational, or at any other stage of their lifecycle, according to the Trust.
It also has the potential to support carbon emission transparency on offshore wind projects, facilitating action on non-price criteria following recent changes to many international offshore wind auction requirements, it added.
The methodology is available to any offshore wind industry stakeholder, such as supply chain companies, consultants and developers involved in measuring the carbon impact of an offshore wind project, including the electricity generated and delivered to the grid.
It provides a breakdown of how the carbon footprint can be calculated for all activities related to the material extraction, manufacturing, construction, installation, operation, decommissioning and end-of-life of the core infrastructure.
Crucially, the methodology increases transparency on how carbon emission calculations should be carried out, increasing the comparability of the results and enabling the identification of emission hotspots, the Trust said.
This information can then be used to identify hotspots and plan ways to reduce the carbon intensity of different areas of the development
The SUS JIP partners will use this methodology to support the standardisation of carbon emissions reporting.
All twelve developers strongly encourage their networks and supply chains to refer to this publicly available methodology and are keen to have continuous partner engagement on this topic.
Mary Harvey, programme manager for SUS JIP from the Carbon Trust, said: “The offshore wind industry plays a crucial role in the transition to a decarbonised future, as the demand for low carbon energy continues to grow.
“This new methodology enables the industry and its stakeholders to standardise how carbon emissions are measured across operations.
“Having transparent data on the carbon footprint of offshore wind farms is a game-changer.
“It allows developers to better understand and reduce the carbon emissions of their projects, while giving investors the ability to make informed, side-by-side comparisons between developments.”