Turkey installs first onshore power supply

Asyaport, on the northern coast of the Sea of Marmara, says a three-year project to install the equipment and power supply was completed and its first customer, MSC Oscar, was powered for 48 hours with shore electricity.

It says that 105MW of energy was supplied to the 396m vessel, which has a capacity of 20,000 TEU.

No diesel was used during this period, which saved, Asyaport says, 69 tons of carbon dioxide, along with methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides (commonly referred to as NOx and SOx).

The system is capable of supplying two container vessels and three feeder vessels simultaneously, the port says.

The port generates 6% of its consumption needs with solar panels, the port says, and ultimately plans to supply the vessels with 100% renewable energy.

From design to infrastructure, the installation cost around $10 million (€9.1 million), and the port says the target is to reduce a total of 15,000 tons of CO₂.

In 2019, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) loaned the port $12 million, which was the fourth financing for Turkey’s port infrastructure in that year.

The money was earmarked for electric ship-to-shore cranes and other equipment to help increase berth capacity, the EBRD said.

The port is the largest trans-shipment terminal near the Bosphorus Strait and was built between 2013 and 2015, also with partial funding from the EBRD.