PORT AUTHORITY OF BILBAO

In 2025, the Port Authority of Bilbao will deploy OPS (onshore power supply) technology to supply electricity to the ships in seven docks where regular container lines, ro-ro, ro-pax and cruise liners dock, as well as the new A5 quays of the first phase of the central breakwater. With the aim that the ships’ auxiliary engines can be turned off while maintaining essential services, in the first phase, the electric lines will be strengthened to offer 30 MW, and three distribution centres will be installed for this purpose, 11 transformers and 11 OPS connection points. To have a flexible structure, it will have 20 outlets for service, regardless of the docking point of the ships in the dock.

The system will be versatile to provide from 1 MW to 12 MW to cater for any type of ship, regardless of length, GT, design or traffic. The project includes a system for coupling “without crossing through zero”, i.e., the OPS network system will synchronise with the ship’s network without power cuts.

The rewiring of all the docks will be carried out during 2022 - 2023. The first quay where OPS will be installed will be the A5 and the project will be open for tender in 2022. The HIDROVAN project will be developed in a later phase; this is a mobile floating platform that will generate energy using hydrogen, in collaboration with Petronor, Tecnalia and Ferrovial. Its aim will be to offer the OPS service to docks that do not have connexion points.

Thanks to this project, called BilbOPS, in addition to vibration and noise reduction, greenhouse gases will also be reduced by 40%, by which, together with other complementary measures, the Port Authority expects to reach the goal of reducing emissions by 55%, established by the European Union for 2030.

The project will also have associated or complementary actions, such as the creation of renewable energy plants to achieve zero emissions for electricity; with this, the port of Bilbao will become a green energy hub. The projects to generate green energy are photovoltaic, wave energy and wind energy.

51.8 MILLION EUROS' INVESTMENT

The project requires a global investment of 51.8 million euros by the Port Authority. A subsidy of 4.3 million has been obtained for financing the OPS of quay A5 through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism and at the same time, procedures have been implemented to request EU co-financing for the quays via the CEF Transport 2021-2027 aid scheme, which has not yet been resolved, but could amount to a subsidy of 30%, i.e., 14.2 million. Due to the project’s character, additional investments will be mobilised by local private initiative innovative solutions.