EMEA News
Early Adopters of Wind-Assisted Propulsion to See FuelEU Compliance Benefits
Technology firm Bound4Blue is seeking to persuade the shipping industry that wind-assisted propulsion can be an effective means of complying with the FuelEU Maritime regulation.
FuelEU came into effect on January 1, and applies to all ships over 5,000 gross tonnage calling at European ports. The initial target to reduce GHG intensity compared to the 2020 baseline has been set at a modest 2% for 2025, which will be tripled to 6% by 2030 and to 80% by 2050.
Wind-assisted propulsion systems (WAPS) provide a transformative solution for meeting FuelEU Maritime requirements, leveraging proven, free, and readily available wind power to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, Bound4Blue highlights in a post on its website.
Ships using WAPS can reduce their GHG intensity through the wind reward factor.
"This device, incorporated into the calculation of emissions (GHG intensity = fwind x [WtT + TtW]), effectively relaxes targets for ships equipped with WAPS. Depending on the proportion of wind energy used for propulsion (Pwind/Pprop), the WRF ranges from 0.95 to 0.99."
"Put simply, this makes FuelEU Maritime compliance easier for vessels with wind-assisted propulsion systems, than for those without." Cristina Aleixendri Muñoz, co-founder of Bound4Blue, says in the blog post.
Wind-assisted propulsion system users gain a dual advantage under the new European regime.
First, these solutions reduce fuel consumption, lowering the EU Allowances required per voyage under EU ETS. Second, FuelEU Maritime offers up to a 5% reduction in GHG intensity for vessels where wind-assisted propulsion accounts for 15% or more of the energy used for propulsion, Santiago Suárez, ship performance manager at Lloyd's Register, says.
