Milan-headquartered Nidec ASI – a leader in the Industrial Solutions sector, and part of Nidec Group – has signed an €8 million contract with Port System Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea to design and construct a ‘shore-to-ship’ electrification project for the port of Genoa. The advanced electrical supply system will enable docked vessels in Italy’s largest seaport to plug in to the national grid from the dock, and thereby access all the power they need to be fully operative without having to switch on their on-board engines.

 

Nidec ASI, whose technical and financial bids scored the highest in the tender, was one of the first players globally to promote shore-side electricity – a decisive solution for reducing the environmental impact of port activities and for saving energy. The project responds to the need to comply with directives of the European Union, which, since 2003, has been urging ports to adopt shore-to-ship systems in order to reduce the polluting emissions of vessels in port. By 2025 this recommendation will become binding for all European ports.

 

Devised by Nidec ASI, the new system will considerably reduce emissions of SOx, NOx, CO2 and PM (particulate matter) – a significant source of pollution for densely populated areas – to the benefit of public health. Moreover, by plugging ships into the national grid, and thereby avoiding the use of on-board diesel generators, the noise pollution that upsets tourists and inhabitants of the neighbouring areas will also be greatly reduced.

 

“For us, this project is a major milestone in the reduction of the environmental impact of port activities – a central theme for promoting a sustainable development model in a country like Italy, which has 7,500km of coastland and 42 large ports. The transformation of these ports with a view to achieving greater safety and savings on energy may also contribute to attracting more cruise vessels, and this would have a positive impact on trade and tourism,” said Kaila Haines, Marketing and PR Director of Nidec ASI. “We are proud to work in partnership with the Port of Genoa and to bring state-of-the art technology, together with our capacity to satisfy specific requirements through customised solutions and our proven experience, developed thanks to the various other applications we have already installed in the Port of Livorno, in the Muggiano / La Spezia shipyards, in the Naval Bases of Taranto and in Toulon (France)”.

 

The company has already completed an excellent comparative project for Livorno – one of the largest seaports in Italy and the wider Mediterrannean Sea. The facility today sits amongst only a handful of pioneering portss – including those of Los Angeles and San Francisco (California), Juneau (Alaska), Gothenburg (Sweden), and Lübeck (Germany) – to have installed shore to ship power.

 

For the Port of Genoa – which won the ‘Top 100 Worldwide Container Ports’ accolade in 2016 – Nidec ASI will supply two 6MVA static frequency converters which, with the overloads required, can reach up to 12MVA, as well as switchboards and LV/MV transformers, connecting cables for the various devices and any accessory components. The special feature of Nidec ASI systems is, in fact, that of being able to adapt the voltage and frequency of the national grid to the requirements of the individual ships. In the long term, Nidec will also supervise the civil engineering works, assembling, commissioning and any technical support required for the project over the next decade.