Port of Kiel commissions another shore power setup
The new shore power facility in Kiel is one of the most powerful onshore plants in Europe (Source: Port of Kiel)
The Schleswig-Holstein Port of Kiel has taken another major step in its decarbonisation journey with the inauguration of another shore power facility at its Ostseekai. The port’s energy set up – with a total of 16 MW of power – now means that one cruise vessel at the Ostseekai as well as Stena Line ferries at the Schwedenkai can be supplied with shore power simultaneously.
Commissioning of the Ostseekai was carried out by Dr Bernd Buchholz, the state of Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Economics, Transport, Labour and Technology and Tourism, and Kiel’s Lord Mayor, Dr Ulf Kämpfer. AIDA Cruises’ AIDAsol then became the first cruise ship to connect to the new shore power system.
The EUR 13.5 million facility was supported by the state of Schleswig Holstein, which provided funding of EUR 9 million. The state also negotiated favourable terms relating to the country’s EEG feed-in tariff on behalf of the port authority.
The shore power plant has been supplying Stena Line ferries with climate-neutral hydropower since the start of this year, clocking up savings in annual CO2 emissions of about 5,000 tonnes.
Color Line ferries, meanwhile, which dock at the port’s Norwegenkai, have been using shore power since May 2019, saving a further 3,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. And now, for every cruise ship call at the Ostseekai, there will be an average CO2 saving of about 45 tonnes. Dr Kämpfer, commented: “All inner-city terminal facilities now have a shore-side electricity connection. The Scandinavian ferry companies are leading the way in the use of electricity and I am very pleased that with AIDA Cruises the first cruise shipping company is now also using shore power in Kiel. In this way, we already cover the majority of the energy requirements of the ships berthed in the inner city area, emission-free and climate-neutral. We want to continue along this path and are already planning another onshore power plant for the Ostuferhafen.”
Siemens supplied the core electrical and electronic elements of the onshore power plant. It essentially consists of converters, medium-voltage switchgear, automation and an energy monitoring system.
