At the expense of €1.2m, of which one-third came from the State of Schleswig-Holstein, the Port of Kiel has put in place its first onshore power supply (OPS) facility.
The 4.5 MW, 10 KV, 50 Hz facility was set up at the Norwegenkai Terminal and will be used by Color Line's cruise ferries Color Fantasy and Color Magic (which consume approx. 4m kWh/year).
The OPS installation has been built by Siemens while the French NG3 provided the shore-to-ship transfer station, which is equipped with a programmed logic control unit that communicates with the land station's switching gear.
All the necessary switching commands passed on by the ship via the system's interface are carried out automatically. Before power is transferred from shore to ship the system first checks for correct plug and cable connections. Once this has taken place, the connection to shore is switched on and the ship synchronises itself with the shore plant, which then handles the supply.
"We are together making an important contribution to keeping the air clean. By using power from on shore we are reducing to zero the emission of harmful substances as well as of greenhouse gases during the time ships are berthed in the port. Schleswig-Holstein supports this trend-setting project and will encourage further facilities of this type," Daniel Günther, Minister-President of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein, commented.
Kiel Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer added, "As a city which protects climate, Kiel would like to become carbon neutral by 2050. We can only achieve this ambitious goal if everyone helps. The new ultra-modern shore-based power plant is making a contribution to significantly reducing CO2 emissions in the port. I am delighted that Color Line is leading this effort and I would welcome it if other shipping companies were to follow suit."
According to the port authority, the Schwedenkai Terminal and the cruise terminal at Ostseekai are going to receive their OPSes in 2020. "In future we want to be in a position to use shore-based electricity to cover 60% of the power requirements of ships calling at Kiel. That will mean we will be able to count ourselves among the most eco-friendly ports in Europe," Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director, the Port of Kiel, said in this regard.
"Our ships are already equipped to draw power from land-based plants and have been plugged in on- shore in Oslo since 2011 and in all four Norwegian ports since 2017. Kiel is now another port which has made available the necessary infrastructure to support and advance our strategy of protecting the environment. Now it is up to the German Federal Government, to reduce the renewable energy levies on land power due under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) in order to create an improved economic framework," Trond Kleivdal, Board Chairman, Color Line, remarked.
Norbert Brackmann, German Federal Government's Coordinator for the Maritime Industry, responded, "Land power is a good way to make a clear contribution to clean air in cities which have harbours and sea ports. So it is certainly a good idea to have a shore-based power plant and it is even better when this plant is also used by shipping. We will therefore clear the way at government level to make land power more competitive and as Government Coordinator for the Maritime Industry I will campaign for this."
Photo: Port of Kiel