Boskalis is Exploring Biofuels

Dutch dredging and offshore contractor Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. said it will run its vessels on a biofuel blend while working on a project to install the export cable to the Borssele offshore wind farm.

The Borssele Alpha project is being executed on behalf of TenneT and is aimed at connecting the Borssele offshore grid with the Dutch high-voltage grid.

During this project, Boskalis will run its vessels on a biofuel blend of up to 30 percent. As of last week, the large trailing suction hopper dredger Prins der Nederlanden is powered by a biofuel blend, resulting in a substantial CO2 reduction, the company said.

Marco Kuijpers, senior manager Offshore Netherlands at TenneT, said, "In addition to the safe, efficient and reliable transportation of electricity TenneT's objectives include doing this in a sustainable way. To achieve this, we take various measures to mitigate or offset the impact of our activities on the environment and we are working towards making our operations climate-neutral by 2025. And so, we warmly applaud Boskalis' initiative to use a biofuel blend to power its vessels. This results in an even more environmentally conscious approach to a sustainable project like the Borssele offshore grid."

Boskalis recently signed a long-term partnership with biofuel supplier GoodFuels as part of its 'Boskalis on Bio' program, which targets a 35 percent reduction in the CO2 emitted by the Boskalis fleet and equipment in the Netherlands over the next five years.

Various sea trials conducted by Boskalis have shown that sustainable biofuels lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 90 percent compared to fossil fuels, and are also much more effective than alternatives such as liquefied natural gas (LNG).

On the Marker Wadden project, Boskalis performed dredging work for six months using a B50 biofuel blend, consisting of 50 percent residual products from the paper industry which also resulted in a huge reduction in CO2.