The Port of Barcelona signed an agreement more than two years ago to develop the OPS system with Grimaldi, which has adapted its ships that berth at the terminal to ensure compatibility with the system.
The Port of Barcelona’s first Onshore Power Supply (OPS) system for ferries is already at the Grimaldi terminal on Sant Bertran wharf. The system is set to launch in January, to allow ferries arriving at the commercial wharf closest to the city to turn off their engines and run on 100% renewable origin electricity that will be supplied by the OPS, thus reducing the emissions and noise they generate.
Furthermore, the OPS will serve two ferry berths in the terminal, providing an initial power of 4MVA, expandable up to 6.5MVA, and is designed to adapt the voltage and frequency to the specific needs of each vessel.
The assembly of this system will be completed in mid-December with the arrival of a Cable Management System (CMS) designed specifically to integrate into the operations of the terminal and provide flexibility to connect the different ferries that dock there.
As in the case of the OPS of the Port of Barcelona’s BEST terminal, which is the first in the Mediterranean in a container terminal, the Grimaldi terminal OPS will operate for the first two years in a pilot phase, allowing the terminal’s operators and the Port of Barcelona to understand at first hand what the needs of this pioneering service are, as they move together towards decarbonisation.
José Alberto Carbonell, president of the Port of Barcelona, underscored the importance of the Grimaldi terminal OPS, emphasising its proximity to the city of Barcelona. “With the OPS for ferries we will not only make port activity more sustainable, but we will contribute to improving the quality of the city’s air and reducing noise where we can have the most impact, at the docks closest to the city centre.”
This takes us one step closer to a zero-emissions operation of all our ferries that call at Barcelona. Both the Cruise and the ECO, vessels plying the routes to Italy, have a battery system allowing the engines to be turned off when the ships are at port. Thanks to this new infrastructure, the ferries of Trasmed, the company of the group that serves the market of the Balearic Islands, will also cease to produce emissions at the port.
…said Mario Massarotti, CEO of Grimaldi in Spain.
Nexigen plan
The Grimaldi OPS cost 3.5 million euros, which was partly funded via the Sustainable and Digital Transport Support Programme under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. Over the next five years and with an investment of more than 200 million euros, the Port of Barcelona will roll out OPS systems to electrify its main docks thanks to the Nexigen plan.
This roll-out will not only install OPS at the Port of Barcelona’s main terminals, but also involves building a new electrical substation from which a new medium-voltage network will be rolled out throughout the port, including an underwater pipeline to connect the supplies of the Energy wharf and the Adossat wharf, which will make it possible to electrify the cruise terminals.
