DNV says low-carbon fuels a necessary transition for maritime until carbon-neutral fuels ready for market

In Denmark, DNV says in its most recent edition of its Maritime Forecast to 2050 that widespread adoption of low-emission and carbon-neutral fuels could potentially take a long time, factoring in the time needed to properly develop low-carbon fuels, production capacity and infrastructure and to scale this. This study therefore introduces ‘bridging technologies’ that can facilitate and ease the transition from traditional fuel, via fuels with lower-carbon footprints, to carbon-neutral fuels. The bridging philosophy is built on three flexibility pillars, as illustrated in the figure below. Fuel-flexible energy converters are essential as bridging technologies. However, but fuel-flexible arrangements for onboard storage and supply systems (allowing fuel switching), as well as flexible shore-side fuel infrastructure, are also needed.