This innovative electrical supply system for ships, the most important in Italy today, will make it possible to reduce emissions and noise pollution, for the benefit of the community

MILAN – The multinational Nidec ASI, leader in the Industrial Solutions sector of the Nidec Group, has signed a contract worth 8 million euros with Port System Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea to design and construct a “shore-to-ship” project for the port of Genoa. This is an advanced electrical supply system that will enable docked vessels to plug in to the national grid from the dock, thereby accessing all the energy 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 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 the 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.

Thanks to the system devised by Nidec ASI, emissions of SOx, NOx, CO2 and PM, which are a significant source of pollution for densely populated areas, are considerably reduced, 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 is also 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 7,500 km 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, in fact, already completed an excellent project for Livorno, one of the few ports in the world already in the vanguard along with those of Los Angeles and San Francisco (California), Juneau (Alaska), Gothenburg (Sweden), and Lübeck (Germany). In order to supply shore-to-ship power to the docks of the Port of Livorno, in 2013 Nidec ASI supplied a variable frequency drive unit for the creation of a system that reduces ship emissions and pollution, while supplying electrical energy from the shore to cruise vessels docked in the port. 

For the Port of Genoa – which won the “Top 100 Worldwide Container Ports” prize in 2016 - Nidec ASI will supply two 6 MVA static frequency converters which, with the overloads required, can reach up to 12 MVA, 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, for the next 10 years.