Hamburg to get new onshore power plant for ships

© www.mediaserver.hamburg.de / Geheimtipp Hamburg

Hamburg to become first European port with facility from 2022 

The states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Bremen, and Peter Altmeier, German Minister for Economics and Energy signed Thursday (October 10, 2019) an agreement in Kiel to boost the framework conditions for the use of onshore electricity. 

The agreement foresees reduced levies and the introduction of separate grid fees. At the same time, a EUR140 million support programme is to be launched from 2020 to help German states and ports expand their infrastructure. 

This comes after the Senate agreed Tuesday (October 8, 2019) to expand onshore power supply in the Port of Hamburg and to create conditions for switching from diesel to environment-friendly energy during idle periods. This would allow Hamburg to become the first European port to supply both cruise ships and container ships with onshore energy from 2022.


Environmental protection through shore power systems

Onshore power will be available to container ships at eight points along Burchardkai, Europakai and Predöhlkai. Plans are also being laid to expand the supply to all existing cruise terminals. 

Accordingly, one power plant each will be built at the cruise terminals in HafenCity (CC1) and Steinwerder (CC3). Europe’s first onshore power plant for cruise ships went into operation at the Altona cruise terminal in 2016. “The expansion of the onshore power facilities is a major and concrete step towards more climate and environmental protection in Hamburg. 

CO2 and ships’ emissions can be completely avoided by using regenerative electricity from these plants during berthing periods, “said Dr. Peter Tschentscher, Mayor of Hamburg. This will give shipping companies more clarity and planning security for converting their ships. 

Renewable electricity from land instead of fossil fuels

Seafaring vessels have far higher costs and consume huge amounts of electricity while in ports. In future, ships will use renewable energy from land instead of burning fossil fuels to generate electricity aboard. “We want to make German port cities cleaner. 

These measures will allow us to make an important contribution towards pollution control and the reduction of CO2 and noise in port cities along the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts,” said Altmeier. 

Important step towards climate targets

All onshore power plants will be connected to the general power grid and will supply the ships with regenerative electricity in future. The expanded use of onshore power will go a long way towards achieving climate targets in the shipping sector. Around EUR 76 million will be invested therein. The shore-side power plants are due to be completed in 2022 and will go into operation in 2023.
js/sb/mt/pb
Sources and further information: 
www.hamburg.de
www.bmwi.de

Comments