Portsmouth International Port sets course for shore power

Portsmouth City Council's cabinet have approved a strategy for shore power provision at Portsmouth International Port, which will allow visiting ships to switch their engines off whilst alongside, according to the company's release.

The port has bold plans to tackle emissions and carbon, which will ultimately help them to become one of the UK’s first zero emission ports.

The plans, which aim to improve air quality and their carbon footprint, have been put together with the government’s Maritime 2050 strategy in mind.

To achieve that ambition, Portsmouth is blazing a trail in the adoption of experimental green technologies, turning the port into a living laboratory.

In a landmark decision, Portsmouth's City Council, who own and operate Portsmouth International Port, agreed to support the port's efforts to provide shore power, subject to securing funding.

This includes the short term development of a battery storage solution, for providing shore power to smaller cruise vessels, as well as a long-term ambition of supplying all vessels that visit the port.

With an existing AI controlled ‘master’ battery on-site, funded by Innovate UK, combined with new battery storage being installed alongside a new solar array, the port will have enough energy to supply small cruise ships whilst alongside. One of the port's long-standing customers, Noble Caledonia, has agreed to upgrade their vessels to take shore power, when the project goes ahead.

For the longer term, options are now being explored to increase the amount of power available at the port, so that shore power can be rolled out to all of the berths at Portsmouth. However, this will require government support across the ports industry, given the investment required.

Portsmouth City Council's Cabinet also committed to continue their support for the port’s green recovery sustainability drive, which includes a hydrogen electrolyser on the port, rolling-out the current fuel filtering project and the construction and piloting of an external fine particle filter at the port boundary.