Up to £100,000 in funding will be awarded to the winning technologies, from a total funding pot of £300,000, to support technology development or demonstration.

The OWA Low Emission Vessels competition will focus on innovations for Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs). Designs submitted to the competition will be assessed for overall cost, operations, and safety advantages to ensure they are viable solutions for offshore wind operations. Vessel designs, power and propulsion technologies as well as energy-providing systems will be considered within the scope of the competition.

The competition is being run in parallel with an OWA commissioned study to evaluate potential technologies for reducing emissions and fuel consumption that are suitable for, or show potential to be used, in offshore wind vessels safely. The study aims to:

• Reduce vessel emissions, fuel costs and vessels’ operational maintenance costs for offshore wind operations
• Understand and evaluate the cost/benefit of existing and future powering and storage technologies, particularly from other industries
• Determine the infrastructure required for integrating this new technology into offshore wind operations

The competition is being delivered by the Carbon Trust and Black & Veatch on behalf of the Scottish Government and the nine OWA industry partners: EnBW, E.ON, Equinor, Innogy, Ørsted, Scottish Power Renewables, Shell, SSE, and Vattenfall Wind Power.

Dan Kyle Spearman, Manager of Offshore Wind Access Systems, the Carbon Trust, commented:

“The Low Emissions Vessels Competition demonstrates the commitment of the OWA developers to help further decarbonise offshore wind vessels, going beyond the regulatory requirements for vessel emissions. The available funding will help kick-start the wider industry into looking into new ideas and using their ingenuity to overcome these challenges. The offshore wind industry also has a great opportunity to be a testbed and demonstration platform for new low-carbon technologies.”

ENDS

For further information please contact:

The Carbon Trust press office on +44 (0) 20 7170 7050 or email press@carbontrust.com.

About the Offshore Wind Accelerator

The Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) is Carbon Trust's flagship collaborative RD&D programme. The joint initiative was set up between the Carbon Trust and nine offshore wind developers in 2008. The current phase involves nine offshore wind developers; these OWA partners account for 76% of Europe’s installed offshore wind capacity. The OWA programme aims to reduce the cost of offshore wind to be competitive with conventional energy generation, as well as provide insights regarding industry standard (and best practice) health and safety requirements.

The OWA is part funded by the Scottish Government with the remaining funding coming from industry. The Carbon Trust's OWA industrial partners are nine international energy companies EnBW, E.ON, Equinor, Innogy, Ørsted, Scottish Power Renewables, Shell, SSE, and Vattenfall Wind Power.

About the Carbon Trust

Established in 2001, the Carbon Trust works with businesses, governments and institutions around the world, helping them contribute to, and benefit from, a more sustainable future through carbon reduction, resource efficiency strategies, and commercialising low carbon businesses, systems and technologies.

The Carbon Trust:

• works with corporates and governments, helping them to align their strategies with climate science and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement;
• provides expert advice and assurance, giving investors and financial institutions the confidence that green finance will have genuinely green outcomes; and
• supports the development low carbon technologies and solutions, building the foundations for the energy system of the future.

Headquartered in London, the Carbon Trust has a global team of 200 staff, representing over 30 nationalities based across five continents.