The complexities and challenges of electrifying a complex site like a port were laid out by Megan Turner, environment and sustainability manager at the Port of Dover in a session at LogisticsUK’s ‘Delivering Decarbonisation’ meeting.
Turner explained that the port currently has a peak use of 7MW across its estate. But it is anticipating it will need a 160MW connection, if it is to serve electric vessels using its cruise, cargo and ferry terminals and other electric vehicles using the site – thousands of HGVs, as well as vehicles used by its contractors and logistics operators, who are already beginning to move to electric vehicles.
Space is at a premium on the port estate and there is no space, for example, for on-site batteries to optimise supply. She said the port currently has backup diesel generators (using bio-fuel) that cover its entire load, and they are regularly used, as there are interruptions to supply. Currently, she said, electricity connections for the entire Dover area are at maximum use – even installing 7kW domestic vehicle chargers was impossible in the area, she said.
Turner expressed her fears about the commercial aspects of installing charging.
The port currently hosts two hybrid vehicles, but the batteries are charged by diesel engines because there is no opportunity to charge either at Dover or Calais. Eventually she expected that battery improvements would mean that vessels would only need to charge at one port for a round trip. Calais, she suggested, would come out ahead: it was currently upgrading its electricity connection, whereas upgrades for Dover were years away. What is more, the price charged for electricity for vessels in France does not include taxes, so it is cheaper than the UK price.
The complexity of the site is a hurdle to electrification. Some issues are commercial: for example, some electricity used by customers of the Port of Dover is classified as domestic and some is not. Some is physical: to electrify berths, the port needs to know what type of charger vessels will use and where they will be on the vessel. The port has historical limitations, such as the fact that there are no electricity links between the three terminals, so power generated from existing rooftop PV could not be shared. Removing limitations (which include a ban on the port supplying power to users) would in some cases require a revision of the port’s operating regime that could take several years to agree.
Turner said that to meet its future demand the port had considered solutions as diverse as a small modular nuclear reactor, or a link to France. In practice, she thought it would use a variety of local supplies – solar, wind etc – linked via private wire. That distributed supply would also be more resilient, she said. But upgrading the connections that would allow it to hike its input from 7MW to 160MW would require network upgrades across the southeast as far as London; for that, the port would need government support.