A giant plug to supply
ship with power

Cover image

Utilizing shore power during port stays makes ships
more environmentally friendly

By connecting vessels to shore-to-ship green power solution, the emissions produced by the vessel during port stay can be cut up to 50-80 percent, since the vessels auxiliary engine does not have to be kept working to produce power.
 


 

Shore power enables cooperation with ports

Ferries which are by comparison, equivalent to the size of a small town, travel regularly between our neighbouring country capitals. During port stays, the ships can connect to the shore-to-ship green power solution, which has a considerable impact on cutting the emissions and has the added advantage of cutting the noise in ports, which are close to city centres or dense areas of residence.

Shore power utilises electricity centrally produced in onshore power plants. Shore-to-ship green power solution was first launched in spring of 2019 in Port of Stockholm, Värtahamnen, on the Helsinki-Stockholm route for vessels Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony. In Helsinki, at the Port of Helsinki’s Olympia terminal, the shore-to-ship power solution was ready in 2020 and in West Harbour it will be completed during 2021. In Port of Tallinn’s Old City Harbour, the shore to ship green power solution was completed and taken into use 2020.

The giant plug that connects the ship to port will not be able to use the normal mains power. Therefore, cooperation with ports has been the key which has made utilising the shore-to-ship power solutions possible

Shore power

Vessels must also be adjusted for using shore power

Utilising shore power solution is sensible for vessels whose port stays last longer than two hours, for example, for vessels operating on routes between Helsinki and Stockholm and during overnight port stays in Tallinn.

Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony operating on Helsinki-Stockholm route are relatively older vessels. Nevertheless, at their construction time, those vessels were particularly technologically advanced. Already in the 1990s, when the shore power was not much talked about, both vessels were already built with capability to utilise shore power. From the technical side, both ships still had to undergo an upgrade to meet current standards. During the last docking, both ships were equipped with a high voltage transformer (11 kW), high-voltage cabling as well as circuit breakers were installed.

Shore-to-ship green power solution entails a fair amount of investment to the ship, which means that it makes economic sense that it is used in every port the ship routinely visits. At this time, the ships have used shore power in port of Stockholm since spring 2019. The Port of Helsinki is in process of building a new high-voltage shore power connection in Olympia terminal for the use of vessels operating to Stockholm. The brand new high-voltage shore power connection will be operational by the end of year 2021.

Greener port stays, cleaner urban environment

On year 2020 Port of Tallinn installed the innovative shore power systems on five of its piers in the Old City Harbour, total investment amounting to 3.5 million euros. Shore power enables vessels to reduce emissions, noise pollution as well as vibration emitted from ships’ engines, and cut the ships‘ fuel consumption.

From now, after mooring in the harbour, the onboard diesel generators of the vessels arriving in port will be switched off and the vessels are connected to the shore power supply network. The ships’ energy load is then transferred to the port’s onshore power supply seamlessly, without interfering with any of the services provided onboard.

Tallink Silja’s vessels can connect to shore power already in three of our home ports around the Baltic Sea who are contributing to creating a cleaner urban environment – Tallinn, Stockholm and Port of Helsinki South Harbour.

Sustainable Port Operations in Helsinki