The arrival of the OPS at Hutchison Ports BEST marks the start of the countdown to connect the first container ships in July.
The Port of Barcelona is holding meetings with several shipping companies to plan the arrival and connection of ships equipped with OPS connections.
The Port of Barcelona has already received the first OPS substation for the future connection network for ships that is being rolled out with the Nexigen project. It is the centrepiece of what will be the first Onshore Power Supply (OPS) system to supply electricity to container ships arriving at the port, allowing them to turn off their engines while docked, thereby reducing the emissions they generate.
The OPS substation comprises six modules assembled in Denmark by the PowerCon company, awarded the contract to install the system in “turnkey” format, and will allow up to two container ships to be connected simultaneously. The arrival of this element represents a milestone for the Hutchison Ports BEST terminal wharf electrification project, where until now both the civil and electrical network works had been carried out, as well as the deployment of the cables to the dock, coinciding with the terminal expansion works.
The OPS connection will be completed over the next four months with the arrival of the equipment to be installed wharfside to connect the vessels and all necessary checks and tests will be performed. The aim is, as the planned schedule, to begin supplying If all goes as planned, the aim is to start supplying ships with clean energy certified as 100% renewable from July.
In parallel to these works, the Port of Barcelona is holding meetings with several shipping companies to plan the arrival and connection of ships that are already equipped with OPS connections.
The BEST terminal OPS and the one being built at the Ferry Terminal will work as a pilot test, making it possible to gather data and information on their operation to optimise the roll-out of the rest of the OPS as well as the medium-voltage network that will supply them with renewable electricity.
“The arrival of the OPS of the BEST terminal is a very important milestone in the roll-out of the Nexigen project. It is the result of years of work to set up the first system of this type in southern Europe and the first part of a network that will make it possible to significantly reduce the emissions generated by port activity”, pointed out the president of the Port of Barcelona, Lluís Salvadó.
The Nexigen project is one of the Port of Barcelona’s big bets to halve CO2 emissions from port operations by 2030 and become a carbon-neutral port by 2050. Specifically, electrifying the main wharves at the Port of Barcelona will make it possible to eliminate 66,000 tonnes of CO2 and 1,234 tonnes of NOx from the emissions generated by port activity.
The OPS installation project at Hutchison Ports BEST is co-financed by the Sustainable and Digital Transport Support Programme in competitive competition concurrence under Measure 11: support for the roll-out of alternative fuels in ports and airports (Project code: PATSYD/22/00061).
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