Montrose Port Authority partnered with Plug Shore Power to become the first Scottish port to offer shore power to offshore energy vessels.
This partnership will see an initial investment of £1 million into the joint venture which will be named Plug Montrose. Currently only two British ports are equipped with shore power. This makes Montrose the first port in Scotland to offer it specifically to vessels working in the offshore energy industry.
Plug Shore Power is the UK-based branch of Plug AS which has partnered with several Norwegian ports to build shore power since its first project in Bergen in 2018.
Montrose Port was also the first to be equipped with Marlin SmartPort software in 2020 that digitally transformed the port’s previous manual operations.
The use of SmartPort enables port activities to be safer, smarter and greener by digitising operations and connecting stakeholders to critical data so vessels can optimise fuel emissions.
Montrose Port Authority now hopes that the installation of shore power will inspire other ports to do the same and aim for a more environmentally friendly and cleaner operation, contributing towards a greener economy and Scotland’s ambitious Net Zero targets.
This joint venture between Montrose Port Authority and Plug Shore Power Ltd is a significant initiative that will support shipping and the offshore energy industry in reducing emissions across their operations
Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport at The Scottish Government, said.
