Sweden’s Port of Ystad has built a High Voltage Shore Connection (HVSC) plant to supply power to ships at berth, in a bid to become greener.
Construction of the plant, which is the world’s largest, was completed in August 2012. The Port of Ystad has invested around 35m SEK (US$5.3m) in the new shore facility which was officially opened today by Swedish Environment Minister, Lena Ek.
Björn Boström, managing director, Ystad Hamn Logistik AB, told Greenport: "The new plant means that ships can stop idling and save fuel when berthed. The ships can carry out maintenance in a new way, and the surroundings will notice less noise from the port.”
He added: “We expect that when all ferries in Ystad are connected, approximately 2 million litres of fuel will be saved.”
Ferries which operate to and from Poland will now be able to turn off their diesel generators while berthed in Ystad and connect to one of four HVSC’s. The newly built plant has the ability to support both 50Hz and 60 Hz power for four ships at the same time.
Around 2 million passengers travel through the port yearly. By connecting to the HVSC at Sweden’s third largest passenger port, ships will comply with increasingly strict IMO regulations by saving a significant amount of fuel and therefore improving local air quality.
