Indian Major ports have turned to use renewable energy in order to cut costs and reduce the emissions. Namely, India is the first nation to have all government-owned ports running on solar and wind energy.
The country’s Shipping Ministry informed that under the “green port’ initiative”, the 12 major ports are to install grid-connected, roof-top solar and wind power projects, in an effort to facilitate their daily operations, such as shore-power supply to visiting vessels, in an eco-friendly way.
Specifically, the 12 state-owned ports are the following: Deendayal Port Trust, Mumbai Port Trust, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, New Mangalore Port Trust, Mormugao Port Trust, Cochin Port Trust, Chennai Port Trust, VO Chidambaranar Port Trust, Visakhapatnam Port Trust, Paradip Port Trust, Kolkata Port Trust and Kamarajar Port Ltd.
Through the use of renewable energy, ports will further cut their power bills, which is a vital operating cost. India’s maritime administration has framed standard operating procedures (SOP) for shore electric power supply to ships in Indian ports that presently cover only a low power supply – up to 150 kW at low voltage.
Overall, India recently saw 15% decline of coal imports at its 12 major ports. In fact, thermal coal imports at India’s 12 major ports declined 14.98% with 74.60 million tonnes (MT) during the fiscal year of April 2019-January 2020, compared to 87.74 MT of the dry fuel in the same period of the previous year, according to data provided by the Indian Ports Association.
