Detours. Offshore wind farms can lead to longer shipping routes if vessels must navigate around them.
Offshore wind power – and whether it can have a negative impact on carbon dioxide emissions when shipping must go around them – that’s what’s on the agenda when C2B2 is hosting a webinar on March 17 (10:00–12:00).
The event will feature Anna Rutgersson, professor of meteorology, and researcher Rohan Kumer, PhD, both affiliated with Uppsala University. They are collaborating on the project Assessing the Carbon Trade-off of Shipping Routes due to Offshore Wind Farm Development.
Results so far points in a direction
In a conversation with the newsletter, Anna Rutgersson emphasized that the results so far are quite clear.
– When shipping routes become longer, additional emissions are inevitable. That is to be expected, and our preliminary model simulations confirm this, she says.
Can the conflict between offshore wind power and shipping pose a real threat to decarbonization efforts, or is it merely a marginal issue? According to Anna Rutgersson, that is the central question of the project.
– We expect to provide a clear answer. In August and September, we will conduct simulations, and we hope they will yield reliable results. Of course, the outcomes will depend on the assumptions we use in the models.
C2B2 takes part
The project has already attracted some attention.
– This issue has not been widely studied before, which is why it has generated interest, she says.
She is now looking forward to the webinar, where she and Rohan Kumer will be joined by Torsten Linders, program manager at C2B2, Karim Fahssis, Head of Decarbonisation at A.P. Moller-Maersk China, and Ian Bergström, project manager at OX2.
– We need input on some of the assumptions in our simulations, and we hope for a constructive discussion. Expectations for the webinar are high, says Anna Rutgersson.
Want to join? Register here to receive a Teams participation link on March 14.
For more details about the webinar, click here.
Photo: Nicholas Doherty, Unsplash