The Onshore Power Supply for the Southern Region of the Grand Harbour Project
The proposed investment focuses on climate mitigation and environmental enhancement. Marine vessels such as Ro Ro and cargo vessels require energy whilst berthed throughout operations. The vessels retain their auxiliary engines switched on whilst they are within the Grand Harbour TEN-T Core Port of Malta and burn marine gas oil with 0.1% sulphur in order to meet their energy requirements. Thus, these vessels generate emissions such as CO2, NOx, SO2 and particulates, into the air. Furthermore, the vessels also generate a level of noise emissions.
The Onshore Power Supply for the Southern Region of the Grand Harbour Project seeks to invest in the electrification of quays along the Southern Region of the Grand Harbour to provide electrical power to the berthed and/or docked vessels. More specifically the project focuses on the provision of on shore power supply within the area of the new cargo terminal at Ras Hanzir which is currently being constructed (this is a separate project) as well as the cargo quays along Laboratory Wharf and Magazine Wharf, two quays within Palumbo Shipyards and quays within the Mediterranean Maritime Hub.
The main components of the envisaged investment are the civil works namely the necessary trenching works, the purchase of the cables and laying of said cables, the construction of the frequency converter stations, provision of the onshore power supply system from the frequency convertor stations to the connection boxes and the actual OPS equipment including the connection points and the cable management system for the respective quay.
The utilisation of OPS is expected to result in significant air emission reductions which, together with some reduction in noise emissions, is highly important due to the fact that the Grand Harbour is located in close proximity to high-densely populated residential areas as well as business and tourism localities. Thus, the project will contribute towards a cleaner and healthier environment.
The project consists of a total investment of €44.6m with Infrastructure Malta already securing funds through the JUST Transition Facility. Furthermore, Infrastructure Malta is seeking to secure additional funding.