Norwegenkai shore-based ship power plant inaugurated – Kiel enables emission-free power to ships in port
The Port of Kiel’s first shore-based power supply plant for shipping was officially inaugurated at the Norwegenkai on May 9th.
The facility was declared open jointly by the Minister-President of the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Günther, the German Federal Government’s Coordinator for the Maritime Industry, Norbert Brackmann, and the Lord Mayor of Kiel Dr Ulf Kämpfer along with Dr Dirk Claus, the Managing Director of the PORT OF KIEL (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) and Trond Kleivdal, Board Chairman of the Color Line.
With immediate effect, the Color Line’s big cruise-ferries can now be supplied with emission-free electric power from on shore. Minister-President Günther said: “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”, he added.
Schwedenkai Terminal and the cruise shipping terminal at Ostseekai will follow the Norwegenkai example and are to get shore-based power supply capability for ships in the coming year. Dirk Claus commented: “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.”
The building contractor for the shore-based power plant, which was built by Siemens, is the PORT OF KIEL. Investment in the plant totalled €1.2 million, of which €400,000 was funded by the state of Schleswig-Holstein. Kiel Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer said: “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.”
The ships of Norway’s Color Line – “Color Fantasy” and “Color Magic” – link Kiel with Oslo on a daily basis. They arrive at the Norwegenkai in the morning at 10 a.m. and leave again at 2 p.m.. Their annual power requirement for the time they spend in Kiel is about four million kilowatt hours.
