The Week in Alternative Fuels

Here are some of the key developments in alternative bunker fuels from the past week.

PHOTO: The Hydrocat 48 in the port of Ijmuiden. Amsterdam Ijmuiden Offshore Ports

As alternative fuels are gaining traction in the shipping industry. This has led ports to take steps to welcome the new fuels in by laying the foundations future supply infrastructure.  

The British Port of Felixstowe and energy firm ScottishPower will set out to build a green hydrogen plant to cater to future demand from shipping and other sectors. The plant will have a 100 MW-capacity electrolyser that can produce 40 mt/day of hydrogen. ScottishPower says it will have options to produce green ammonia and e-methanol in the future.

The Dutch Port of Ijmuiden announced this week that it has granted a hydrogen bunkering licence to CMB’s Windcat Workboats – the first of its kind in the Netherlands. Albeit small-scale, hydrogen stems will be supplied to Windcat’s crew transfer vessel Hydrocat 48.

Also in the headlines this week, Avenir LNG announced its plan to develop an LNG and bioLNG terminal in Sweden’s Port of Oxelösund by 2025. Avenir said the terminal will pave the way for more LNG bunkering in the Baltic Sea.

Wind-assisted propulsion technology has attracted attention from shipowners looking to lower emissions from ships running on conventional fuels. Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) said it will operate two vessels with rotor sails by 2024 and expect a 20% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. Mining major BHP and Pan Pacific Copper announced plans to retrofit rotor sails on vessels going between Chilean mines and Japanese smelters.

Here are the top five stories in alternative fuels this week:

ScottishPower points to future shipping demand in plans to develop Felixstowe green hydrogen hub

British energy firm ScottishPower aims to produce 40 mt/day of green hydrogen by the UK’s Port of Felixstowe.

The plant will have a 100 MW-capacity electrolyser to split water into oxygen and green hydrogen by using renewable electricity generated from offshore windfarms. ScottishPower will target demand from industry, road and rail transport and shipping.

Apart from green hydrogen, the plant will be built with capacity to also produce green ammonia and e-methanol in the future, ScottishPower said.

ScottishPower has partnered with Hutchison Ports to develop, build and operate the green hydrogen plant Felixstowe. The duo expects green hydrogen demand to pick up from 2025 onwards.

“It’s perfectly located not far from our existing and future offshore windfarms in the East Anglia region and demonstrates how renewable electricity and green hydrogen can now start to help to decarbonise road, rail, shipping and industry,” ScottishPower’s hydrogen director Barry Carruthers.

In a recent study, shipping classification society DNV forecasted that hydrogen will make up only 5% of the overall global energy mix by 2050, while a greater 11% of Europe’s energy mix.

DNV says hydrogen uptake needs to be triple that forecast, at 15%, by 2050 to reach the Paris Agreement target of keeping global warming within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

CMB Windcat Workboats gets first hydrogen bunkering licence in the Netherlands

The license will allow Windcat Workboats, part of CMB, to bunker its crew transfer vessel Hydrocat 48 with hydrogen in the port of IJmuiden.

The move is to make some vessel movement more sustainable in the ports of IJmuiden and Amsterdam, Amsterdam IJmuiden Offshore Ports (AYOP) said in a statement.

Environment Agency IJmond has given an environmental permit for hydrogen bunkering on behalf of the municipality of Velsen, after Windcat Workboats looked into the safety elements in collaboration with the Port of IJmuiden and Port of Amsterdam.

Hydrocat 48 is used to transport crew to and from offshore wind farms. It is currently deployed in IJmuiden, where the hydrogen bunkering pilot successfully completed in the IJmondhaven. It will later be deployed in the Port of Ostend for normal operational activities.

The vessel came into service in May and features a dual fuel engine manufactured by MAN Engines, which has been retrofitted by CMB.TECH with a hydrogen injection system.

Windcat Workboats is planning to deploy more hydrogen-powered vessels in future.

Avenir plans to develop Swedish LNG bunker hub

UK-headquartered LNG supplier Avenir LNG intends to build an LNG and bioLNG terminal in the Port of Oxelösund in Sweden by 2025.

Avenir has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with terminal operator Oxelösunds Hamn to construct an LNG and bioLNG terminal in the Port of Oxelösund.

Under the MOU, Avenir will acquire the project firm Oxgas from Oxelösunds Hamn.

Avenir says construction work on the terminal can start immediately as Oxgas has already secured construction and environmental permits from the necessary authorities.

LNG carriers operated by Avenir will be used to import LNG to the terminal and to be later stored in atmospheric tanks.

Avenir says the terminal will facilitate LNG bunkering in the Baltic Sea as stems can be delivered through trucks or pipelines.

The terminal will expand Avenir’s LNG bunker operation network and help free up some capacity from its LNG barge fleet that can be operated elsewhere. Avenir operates a fleet of six LNG barge vessels across key European ports.

MOL to operate two vessels with rotor sails by 2024

Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) expects rotor sails to reduce the vessels' greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by almost 20%.

MOL has announced plans to equip a second bulk carrier with a rotor sails system. The two bulk carriers are being constructed by Japan’s Oshima Shipbuilding, with the first carrier expected to be delivered this October and the other by 2024.

The vessels will use an auxiliary wind propulsion system developed by the British wind technology firm Anemoi Marine. Anemoi has been developing rotor sails for years, and installed the world’s first rotor sail on an ultramax bulk carrier in 2018.

A rotor sail is a modern version of flettner rotor that is based on the Magnus effect, which creates air pressure to cause spinning.

During favourable wind conditions, the rotor sails will allow the vessel's main engine to throttle back and save fuel consumption while providing enough power to maintain speed.

BHP to test Norsepower rotor sails retrofit to reduce GHG emissions

Mining major BHP and Pan Pacific Copper (PPC) will test rotor sails to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation between BHP’s mines in Chile and PPC’s smelters in Japan.

The two companies plan to retrofit the system on a combination carrier and complete the installation process by the third quarter of next year.

The system has been developed by Norsepower, a Finland-based provider of auxiliary wind propulsion systems. The company claims it to be 10 times more efficient than a conventional sail as it uses wind energy to maximise a ship’s fuel efficiency.

During favourable wind conditions, the system throttles back the main engine, saving fuel and reducing emissions, Norsepower says.

Wind-assisted propulsion technology is gaining popularity in the shipping industry to reduce emissions. Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has recently announced plans to equip two bulkers with rotor sails systems, saying it could reduce the vessels' GHG emissions by almost 20%.