Interview with Jean-Michel Germa
“What the global electricity industry has done, shipping can do!” »
President of the MGH company and founder of La Compagnie du Vent, a pioneering wind power company in France owned since 2017 by Engie, Jean-Michel Germa has made the decarbonization of maritime transport his new hobby horse. The challenge is ambitious because… everything remains to be done!
What do we mean by “decarbonization” of maritime transport?
Decarbonization is a neologism, a generic term which encompasses everything that contributes to the depollution of fossil fuel emissions used in maritime transport, the main pollutants being carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). It would be more accurate to speak of the energy or ecological transition of maritime transport, a term more conducive to the hope that the maritime world will get rid of fossil fuels.
What link does this have with wind power, your first profession?
Precisely, wind power, along with solar, has made it possible to ensure the energy transition in global electricity production. In a few decades' time, the decarbonisation of stationary electricity generation (on land and at sea) will be virtually complete: the vast majority of electricity generation facilities will use non-fossil, renewable energy sources, such as hydro, wind or solar power. Several hundred billion euros have been invested in wind and photovoltaic electricity over the past twenty years and these technologies are now fully developed and competitive! It is therefore quite natural that operators and investors turn to them to produce the electricity we need. A pioneering company, La Compagnie du Vent installed the first wind turbine in France (in 1991) and supported, if not anticipated, the development of this industrial sector. What we learned with La Compagnie du Vent – the methods and analyzes developed to develop this new activity at the time – can be transposed to maritime transport. That's why I'm interested in it. MGH is the embodiment of a diversification of our methods applied to a new field of activity, that of maritime transport. What the global power industry has done, shipping can do, it's a matter of time!
Many studies have been carried out on maritime transport pollution. For the most pessimistic, a boat would emit the same quantity of sulfur oxide as several million cars; However, nearly 60,000 ships ply the oceans today... What are your observations on this subject?
These disputed figures are excessive and old, because cars have significantly reduced their polluting emissions! What is certain is that 80 % of the world's goods transit via maritime transport, and if this only generates 3 % of CO2 emitted on the planet, it is at the origin of 15 % of SOx and 17 % from NOx from human activity. So there is a problem, and it needs to be addressed. Thanks to the intervention of the French Maritime Cluster (CMF), COP 21 took maritime transport into account. On the other hand, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has already taken important decisions: no more than 0.5 % of sulfur emitted from 2020, reduction of at least 50 % of CO2 emissions from maritime transport. 'by 2050 compared to the level of 2008... Given the number of ships, there are considerable things to do.
“Until we turn back, we are sure that the ship will not stop. We must fight back! »
Reduction in ship speed, wind, sun… Are these solutions really solutions to reduce their polluting emissions?
Maritime transport is currently operating optimally under current constraints. But taking environmental constraints into account will modify the balance and the optimum will therefore shift. In fact, a lot of things are already known and if we take a quick look at the state of the art, what solutions do we have? The wind, through different technologies (soft, thick sails, turbo-sails, Fletner rotors, kites, etc.) is an idea that immediately comes to mind. But the larger the ships, the greater their load in relation to the sail thrust. If all boats were equipped with sails, we could save between 5 % and 20 % of all the energy necessary to propel the world fleet, unless we reconsider the entire organization of maritime transport (why not, but not right away! ). Just like solar energy, which is developing extremely well on land. But with an electrical power of around 150 Watts per square meter of deck area, this energy is however insufficient for ships whose engines and auxiliaries have powers that can be counted in the thousands of horsepower. Electric propulsion also comes to mind. But today, given the low energy density of batteries, it is only suitable for vessels with a short range, such as certain port service vessels, or even certain ferries. We then come to the design of the boats. But naval engineering and construction, with its centuries-old experience, are already leading to perfectly optimized ships: hulls, lighter and more rigid materials, paints that reduce hydrodynamic drag, engines that are at their best in terms of thermodynamic efficiency... adds that adapting ship speed to the cost of fuel, “economic speed”, is already used by shipowners to reduce operating costs. Finally, meteorological routing, which is widely used, makes it possible to optimize fuel consumption. In short, we can turn the problem in all directions, it seems that the issue is in the substitution of fossil fuels: MGO (marine diesel), HFO (heavy fuel oil).
How ?
There are alternative fuels to fossil fuels that emit little or no CO2, NOx and SOx, including liquid or gaseous biofuels, synthetic fuels, or hydrogen. We must therefore work on a technical level on these solutions. These fuels do not emit carbon if they are properly produced, for example if the trees used for their production are replanted. Another example is biomethane, a biofuel that can be made from carbon in the air or from plants. However, it is the same molecule (CH4) as LNG (liquefied natural gas)! We could therefore use biosourced LNG instead of fossil LNG. Hydrogen is also a very good vector which holds great hopes. But it is a small molecule, its storage is difficult and its biosourced production is still expensive and complicated. In fact, many alternatives exist but they have not been developed industrially and their cost is still very high. By comparison, we are in maritime transport where we were in electricity production around thirty years ago. That is to say that it is necessary to undertake major work... and that there is hope if we see the trajectory achieved by renewable energies.
“To political action and state subsidies, it will be necessary to add lobbying and international consultation”
The Avril group has just announced a brand new fuel for road professionals, Oléo 100, made from 100 % of French rapeseed…
I do not know the specific characteristics of the Oleo 100 but everything suggests that it would be suitable for maritime transport, possibly with some minor modifications to the diesel engines. It is also certain that these modifications would be much easier to carry out than adapting the propulsion of a ship to LNG. But the problem is not there. The problem is access to the resource. Already because maritime transport is in competition with other users. For example, we would prefer to reserve biodiesel produced in France from rapeseed, which is expensive, for air transport which uses kerosene, a more refined fuel than maritime fuels. Then, because if biofuels develop en masse, there will be competition with the agri-food industry. We are therefore looking at second generation fuels, which use the inedible part of the plant (stem, leaves).
On September 25, MGH, your company, won the “Port Innovation” trophy at the “Assises Ports du futur” for an electric pilot boat project. What are its ambitions in relation to decarbonization?
As I said above, electricity provides energy suitable for boats but it is reserved for short journeys. It is therefore particularly suitable for pilot boats which generally navigate in outer ports. In addition, electric propulsion is interesting because it does not pollute the air in ports. Our electric pilot boat for the Sète pilot station is an experimental project. Its aim is to demonstrate the technical feasibility and under what conditions this solution can be made competitive (market size, aid from public authorities, etc.). It will be operational and delivered in the second quarter of 2019.
You place the question of taxes and subsidies at the heart of the challenge of decarbonization of the maritime world. For what ?
The regulatory environment is the starting point and the necessary passage. How can we give a competitive advantage to carbon-free solutions when at sea fossil fuels are tax-free? At first glance, the equation seems impossible to solve without “retaxing” fuels. But that would lead to ruining the maritime economy. Fortunately, the experience acquired for onshore electricity production will serve us well. About forty years ago, when it was realized that the energy produced in power plants had serious repercussions on the environment and health, the first idea was to tax electricity so that the cost of depollution is borne by producers and consumers and not by society. This is the polluter pays principle. But this would have led to multiplying the cost of kWh by two or three and therefore ruining the world economy! It was therefore preferred to subsidize alternative technologies during a transitional period allowing them to become competitive. This is how wind power and photovoltaic solar power have become, in around thirty years, the most competitive industrial technologies for electricity production. And it was subsequently, and gradually, that the carbon tax was implemented. For the maritime sector, it's the same thing, with an additional difficulty however, which is that ships can go bunkering wherever they want. To political action and state subsidies, it will therefore be necessary to add lobbying and international consultation.
How long can it take to decarbonize the maritime world?
In around thirty years we have stopped the growth of fossil fuels for electricity. The same thing can be imagined by analogy for maritime transport. But until we turn back, we are sure that the ship will not stop. We must fight back!
Is this MGH’s mission today?
Yes. We seek to bring together goodwill and skills to find alternative solutions to fossil maritime transport. At the beginning, there will be an abundance of solutions, some will stand out, others will disappear. It’s a very interesting field of intellectual research because everything has to be done! We are faced with a blank page like when I got into wind power. Here, what could speed up the process is that the maritime world is already very organized. For example, it has a powerful representation structure, the CMF, where maritime, energy and agricultural stakeholders already talk to each other.
Interview with Jean-Michel Germa, comments collected by Sophie de Courtivron, MARINE & OCEANS – 4th QUARTER 2018, p.68-71.
Read all the “Expert Opinion” articles on the SprintProject blog
