{"id":10642,"date":"2014-04-08T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portstrategy.nfdtesting.uk\/greenport\/2014\/04\/08\/breaking-boundaries-in-shore-side-power\/"},"modified":"2014-04-08T20:30:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T19:30:00","slug":"breaking-boundaries-in-shore-side-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/news\/energy-technology-greenport\/breaking-boundaries-in-shore-side-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking boundaries in shore side power"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ShoreBoX\u2122 is the result of a heavy investment in R&D over the last few years. Back in <\/a>2012, Schneider Electric\u2019s total sales of \u20ac24bn saw 4 to 5% being invested in research.<\/p>\n

In harbour cities ship pollution is a major source of urban pollutant. Shore power ensures that ships can be plugged in to the grid at berth and switch off its own engines to cut emissions and reduce noise in the port environment.<\/p>\n

And Schneider Electric\u2019s ShoreBoX\u2122 technology aims to take this concept and move it to the next level.<\/p>\n

The current marketplace<\/b><\/p>\n

The trouble is that there are plenty of issues to tackle before shore side power can be adopted on a much more global scale.<\/p>\n

For example, although it\u2019s quite clear what ports need to do to have this shore side power, some older ships may not have been built with the facility to attach to a shore connection.<\/p>\n

Frequency conversion is also a key consideration here particularly as the US uses a 60Hz grid, while the EU uses a 50Hz grid. Most ships are 60Hz so a conversion process needs to be put in place in European ports by way of a static grid frequency conversion system.<\/p>\n

But the European Directive on the Deployment of Alternative Fuel Infrastructures, which will affect all ports in Europe, is expected to be validated in April 2014, which should help with this.<\/p>\n

If you look at the UK as an example, where private and trust ports are in competition with each other, one issue to consider is ports not having the capacity to install shore side power. For example, ports like the London Gateway have the infrastructure in place but they haven\u2019t yet take the step to install the equipment.<\/p>\n

Unless regulation is in place, it\u2019s the same old chicken and egg story \u2013 ports are waiting for shipping demands and ships are waiting for port infrastructure to be in place before adopting and using new technology.<\/p>\n

ShoreBoX\u2122<\/b><\/p>\n

Schneider Electric estimates that investing in ShoreBoX\u2122 technology could see clients breaking even at the three year point (evidence based on a Schneider Electric project).<\/p>\n

ShoreBoX\u2122 is an all in one integrated solution. It\u2019s adaptable to any port context and Schneider Electric says it\u2019s easy to install and use. Best of all it\u2019s mobile and modular \u2013 great for ports with limited space and enabling them to build it up, over time, depending on requirements.<\/p>\n

Typical investment to equip a ferry berth (which requires 1 to 3 MVA of power) is between \u20ac500,000 up to \u20ac1m. A new cruise terminal investment will need significantly more power and cost will depend greatly on how much power the ship requires.<\/p>\n

The ShoreBoX\u2122 solution uses a Static Grid Frequency Conversion system. It can be installed and used for cruisers (12 to 15 MVA), containerships (1 to 8 MVA), tankers (2 to 9 MVA) and smaller commercial vessels such as tugs.<\/p>\n

At one of its main R&D facilities in Grenoble, , the 3 MVA ShoreBoX\u2122 prototype – which is approximately the size of a container in order to be shipped easily by road – has been tested thoroughly with a medium voltage supply of 6,6KV which simulates a real life port context.<\/p>\n

For larger power requirements it\u2019s modular so it can be used in parallel with other units. Traditional shore side systems were designed in line with the power of the ship, but this risked power being wasted if energy was found to be surplus to requirements.<\/p>\n

ShoreBoX\u2122 however can be sized to requirements \u2013 buy what you need and you can buy more later if required. This doesn\u2019t waste power and is in itself a more green ethos.<\/p>\n

Schneider Electric doesn\u2019t just supply the shore side system. It has the capability to convert ships for shore power for between \u20ac200,000 and \u20ac500,000 when they\u2019re in dry dock for maintenance. Newbuilds can have shore side power requirements factored in to the cost.<\/p>\n

ShoreBoX\u2122 has also been trialled in a real port environment in Morocco where two boxes have been installed for naval frigates.<\/p>\n

And there are two ShoreBoX\u2122 systems bound for Riga in May which will be used to power containerships.<\/p>\n

Schneider Electric is also working on helping ports to develop biomass, solar and renewable energy options, which it says will ultimately allow ports to sell back surplus power generated back to the grid. So ShoreBoX\u2122 is enabling the firm to expand its business in a number of areas.<\/p>\n

Advantages<\/b><\/p>\n

The ShoreBoX\u2122 is quick to install \u2013 just two weeks is needed for commissioning and cabling. This is much quicker than other shore side power systems available on the market. Traditionally these systems have had to be designed then built then installed and then tested as separate processes. But the \u201cplug n\u2019 play\u201d ShoreBoX\u2122 is already pre-designed. This, combined with the use of the same products for each system cuts down the lead time of each order ensuring delivery is around eight to ten months.<\/p>\n

Each ShoreBoX\u2122 comes with a full maintenance and service contract, backed by Schneider Electric\u2019s strong chain of global service centres.<\/p>\n

Port owners can also monitor and control the performance of their ShoreBoX\u2122 installations through Schneider Electric\u2019s EMCS and EMIS systems. These systems can merge the data into the port\u2019s operation management and control system allowing customers to get visibility of their energy profiles at terminal, port or multi-site level, predict energy consumption, negotiate better contracts with utilities, sell energy back to the grid and collect and report environmental KPIs.<\/p>\n

For ports there is also the option to lease a ShoreBoX\u2122 which ensures payback from year one.<\/p>\n

The need for shore side power<\/b><\/p>\n

Shore side power is already recognised as an important way forward to save costs and emissions for ports. There is a worldwide standard for shore power Standard EC\/ISO\/IEEE 80005-1 High-voltage Shore Connection (HVSC) is validated. This means for example that ships coming into the Port of LA can use the system when arriving in Denmark.<\/p>\n

And the demand is there also. The Port of LA uses shore side power helped by the introduction of the new OGV Fuel Regulation and Northern American Emission Control Area (ECA) requirements in January. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) says that 80% of the power used by berthed ships will have to come from shore side electricity by 2020.<\/p>\n

The company also has a strong relationship with Viking Line in Helsinki Finland.<\/p>\n

Shore side power is available in 97 berths worldwide and so far, Schneider Electric provides just under half with shore side power systems.<\/p>\n

But the retrofit side of the business is more of a work in progress. The company has already equipped one Stena Line ship in Gothenburg so there is a lot of scope left to develop that side of the business.<\/p>\n

Michael Hawkings, segment manager marine UK, Schneider Electric, says: \u201cEveryone wants to be first to be second. Shore side power is going to be driven commercially. We believe that market forces will be the driving force.\u201d<\/p>\n

And market forces such as the EU Directive which gives a two hour limit at berth for ships before switching to shore side power or low sulphur fuel could help drive demand.<\/p>\n

Another is available infrastructure development funding under the TEN-T \u2013 Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). Money is available for both research into shore side power (50%) and deployment (20%).<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, international standards are in place and the technology is there for the uptake so the industry looks positive. It is now just up to the ports and ships to decide who implements the shore connection first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Schneider Electric is well known for its energy management systems and its new ShoreBoX\u2122 system aims to revolutionise the market thanks to its portability and modularity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":10643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-10642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy-technology-greenport"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10642"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=10642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}