A total of 56 out of the 112 turbines at the 980MW Nordlicht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea will partly be fabricated with low-emission steel, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the towers.
The move is part of Vattenfall’s attempt to accelerate the green transition of its business as it takes steps to reduce CO2 emissions throughout its entire supply chain.
The news came after Vattenfall and BASF signed supply and service contracts with Vestas V236 15MW offshore turbines for the Nordlicht aray.
“I am excited to start the journey to introduce low-emission steel into our projects,” said head of environment & sustainability within Vattenfall’s business area wind Eva Julius-Philipp.
“Low-carbon steel is the major element in Offshore Wind to reach our Vattenfall Score target to reduce our supplier greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, and the walk has now begun.
The low-emission steel is based on 100% steel scrap processed in an electric furnace, which in turn is powered by 100% renewable energy. This reduces the carbon footprint by 66% compared to heavy steel plates made via a conventional steelmaking route.
“Steel manufacturing results in around 8% of total global emissions and it is therefore important to secure decarbonization of this sector fast,” said vice president environment Helle Herk-Hansen.
“With this project Vattenfall together with our partners sends a clear signal that low emission steel is needed to secure an energy transition in line with the 1.50 Celsius trajectory in the Paris Agreement.”
An important element on Vattenfall’s road to decarbonisation is to have the full value chain perspective, so it started SCORE, a supplier CO2 reduction project in 2021.
This scheme helps Vattenfall actively work towards minimizing the carbon footprints in its supply chain.
As a result of this work, Vattenfall was earlier this year awarded with the Supplier Engagement Leader Award for a second year.