Kiel Set to Plug In Ships to Onshore Power

The construction of the first onshore power supply plant for commercial vessels in the German Port of Kiel has begun at the Norwegenkai Terminal.

The facility is set to become operational in 2019 enabling big cruise ferries to get all the electrical power they need during the time they are berthed in Kiel, cutting air pollution in the port at the same time.

The onshore power supply plant for the Norwegenkai is part of the BLUE PORT concept, in which further facilities of this kind are already being planned for Kiel.

 “Upon completion of the Norwegenkai onshore power plant, the Schwedenkai Terminal and the Cruise Shipping Terminal Ostseekai will also be equipped with onshore power supply facilities by 2020. It is our intention to provide half of all ship calls in Kiel with onshore power in future. Doing so means that we are setting a new European standard,” Port Director Dirk Claus said.

The facility is being built by Siemens AG, and the investment is worth EUR 1.3 million (USD 1.48 million). The plant has a maximum power rating of 4.5 Megawatts at 10 Kilovolt and a network frequency of 50 Hertz.

The first users of the facility are ships of the Norwegian shipping company Color Line, the Color Fantasy and Color Magic, which provide a daily link between Kiel and Oslo. It is estimated that the ships spend around four million kilowatt hours annually during berthing times.

 “Our ships are equipped to take onshore power and have been connected to onshore power supply in Oslo since 2011 and in all our four Norwegian ports since 2017. Now Kiel is becoming the next port to provide the necessary infrastructure to further advance and support our strategy of environmental protection,” Color Line GmbH Managing Director Dirk Hundertmark, said.