Cold ironing has been proposed as one way of reducing emissions from ships in ports, but requires dedicated infrastructure – which not many ports outside the US yet have – and technology that is capable of reliably providing the right kind of power to ships, at the right cost.
Governments such as the UK Government have recently made a commitment to making cold ironing for ships mandatory for new port developments, with the promise that existing port facilities may in due course become covered by such a requirement.
Nexans in Germany is proposing that innovative hybrid medium voltage cabling it has developed for a range of applications could be used as a ship-to-shore connection. This would enable large ships to make use of Alternative Maritime Power (AMP) systems that eliminate the production of greenhouse gases while in port, as well as reducing noise emissions and saving on fuel costs.