The European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Committee has approved aid for two projects in the Port of Valencia that will facilitate and accelerate the possibility of connecting ships to the electricity grid.
According to a statement from ValenciaPort, the approved projects will allow a study into coordinating the operations of electrified European ports and the co-financing of an electricity substation at the Port of Valencia.
Both projects were studied and drafted by the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV) and the ValenciaPort Foundation.
The study, the European Action for Cold Ironing in Ports (EALING) will look to improve the security and environmental performance of ports and contribute to the transition to cleaner energy for maritime transport services through electrification.
The project will focus on what is needed to build an onshore power supply (OPS) infrastructure and examine ways to upgrade existing infrastructure in participating ports.
The objective of the second of the projects, EALINGWorks Valenciaport is to specifically prepare the electrical grid of the Port of Valencia for OPS infrastructure and its current power grid to supply container ships.
As the demand for electricity from ships at berth is quite high, the installation of OPS in a port requires the improvement of the entire electricity network.
Currently, the Port of Valencia receives medium voltage electricity (20kV) from three different high and medium voltage electrical substations: St La Punta, St Grao and St Alameda.
The use of 20kV combined with the security of supply requirements in the ports means that the maximum amount of energy to be demanded from the general network for non-instantaneous use must not exceed 13 MW.
Taking everything into consideration, ValenciaPort said implementing an OPS at the Port of Valencia is “not realistic” until the power grid has been improved.
