The Port of Amsterdam tested on February 8 and 9 its shore power for short sea vessels at a terminal, aiming towards a more sustainable future and searching for many ways to achieve that.
Accordingly, Shipping company Wilson moored their ship Wilson Goole at VCK Logistics’ Waterland Terminal. The ship received power via SKOON’s battery.
The port explains that the battery test is another step towards a more sustainable shipping industry. The battery can supply green energy anywhere in Amsterdam and is then filled with local wind energy from Windpark Ruigoord or with energy from biomass from AEB. It is capable of supplying 630 kWh of electricity. This equates to at least twelve hours of shore power. Or two months for a two-person household.
The test revealed that the batter is able to provide energy to large ships on a regular basis by means of a battery.
In addition, on locations with a small grid connection, up to 550 kW of peak power can be supplied for longer periods. This has recently been done in cooperation with the Shared Energy Platform(link is external) (SEP). SEP is an initiative of the Port of Amsterdam to increase the available capacity in the electricity grid.
However, many are the difficulties when connecting large vessels to shore power, as this operation need certain modifications to the vessels. Wilson Eurocarriers sails to Amsterdam on a weekly basis and has already made modifications to 80 of its 126 ships.
Robert Bravenboer, Director at Wilson Agency explained that
We think it is important to make optimal use of the possibilities of shore power. Hopefully this will soon become the standard in all ports. We believe that the sustainability of ports will increase rapidly and we are happy to contribute to this. We are very happy that we were able to do this pilot in Amsterdam.
Moreover, Peter Loonen, Managing Director of VCK Group explained that the company values the importance of innovation and sustainability, adding that “The battery test is a nice concrete example of this. It’s important to us that we continue to invest in the future to ensure that we can provide more of these types of ships with energy in a sustainable way’.”
