The Carnival Corporation-owned German company AIDA Cruises announced on Monday (May 10) that Europe's largest shore powerplant had been officially inaugurated with AIDAsol. The facility's inauguration was announced during the 12th German National Maritime Conference attended by AIDA's President Felix Eichhorn, Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig.
Establishing the shore-power supply for cruise vessels in Rostock-Warnemunde, is the result of an agreement between AIDA, the state government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rostock Port, the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock signed back in September 2018.
The shore power plant was completed in summer 2020 and is currently the largest in Europe. It has an output of up to 20 MVA (megavolt amperes) and 2 cruise ships can be supplied with electricity at the same time in Warnemunde at berths P7 & P8. In regular passenger operation, the AIDAsol ship needs up to 4.5 MWh (megawatts per hour) of electricity.
The use of shore power to supply liners with energy is a decisive step for the cruise company to reduce local emissions to zero during berthing over time. As early as 2004, when the order for the building of AIDAdiva was placed, and for all other vessels put into service the following years, the AIDA Cruises considered the use of shore power as the option for environmentally friendly ship operation.
Since 2017, AIDA has been using the first European shore power plant in Hamburg Hafen's Altona Terminal with its AIDAsol in regular operation. Ten ships in the AIDA fleet are now technically prepared and can use shore power where available. The aim is to convert all vessels built from 2000 onwards accordingly.
With AIDA starting its 2021 cruise season from Kiel Germany (on May 22), AIDAsol will also be the first ship to complete the final tests on the new shore-power plant there.
AIDAsol is scheduled to arrive in Kiel on May 13.