ScottishPower Renewables has announced an innovative new pilot project to reduce its carbon emissions by using waste vegetable oil to help power crew transfer vessels working on its flagship East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm.

Supporting the company's commitment to Net Zero, the renewable vessel fuel, HVO30 – made from 30% hydrogenated vegetable oil and a marine gas oil fuel blend – will be used to power two crew transfer vessels provided by Great Yarmouth-based NR Marine Services.

Compared to standard marine gas oil, HVO30 is predicted to result in around a 30% reduction in equivalent CO² emissions* from the two vessels. The renewable fuel is created from 100% waste vegetable oils and holds a proof of sustainability certificate from the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) system.

ScottishPower Renewables' Chief Executive, Charlie Jordan, commented: "As part of the drive to get to Net Zero, we've been working with suppliers across our East Anglia ONE windfarm to reduce CO² emissions throughout the project. Developing low emission vessels for use in operational windfarms is a real challenge for the industry and we're proud to be leading the way and taking on this challenge to help us operate in a cleaner and greener way.

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"As we continue to work towards Net Zero – and with the UK hosting the COP26 UN climate change summit later this year – it's vital we all do our bit to ensure our operations are as sustainable as possible. Our ambition is to continually work with our supply chain to find ways of reducing our environmental impact across our projects. We're really pleased to be working with NR Marine Services to deliver this pilot project, which is an exciting milestone on that journey."

Owen Nutt, Director of NR Marine Services, which is operating crew transfer vessels on East Anglia ONE as part of a contract with Turner Iceni, added: "We are really pleased to be paving the way with reducing vessel emissions on two of our vessels, NR Cougar and NR Jaguar.

"East Anglia ONE is an important project for us and it's great to see ScottishPower Renewables committing to purchase the HVO30 fuel in a bid to further reduce carbon emissions. We are looking forward to analysing the performance of the new fuel and hopefully rolling it out to the entire fleet in the future."

Located 43km off the coast of Suffolk, the East Anglia ONE windfarm generates up to 714MW of clean energy every year – enough to power more than 630,000 homes. The £2.5bn project features 102 Siemens Gamesa 7MW offshore wind turbines and is a joint venture between ScottishPower Renewables and Macquarie's Green Investment Group (GIG). It is one of four offshore windfarms ScottishPower Renewables is aiming to develop in the region.