A major step for climate protection in Port Kiel, Germany was taken at the OSTSEEKAI after Kiel’s Lord Mayor, Dr. Ulf Kämpfer, and the Minister of Economics, Transport, Labour and Technology and Tourism of the State of Schleswig-Holstein, Dr. Bernd Buchholz officially commissioned one of Europe's most powerful on-shore power plants together with the CEO of Costa Group, Michael Thamm and the Managing Director at the Port of Kiel, Dr. Dirk Claus.
After the successful integration test, AIDA' ship AIDAsol was the first cruiser to be connected to the shore power supply system on June 16.
With 16 megawatts, the new facility can supply a cruise ship at the OSTSEEKAI and STENA LINE cruiseferries at Schwedenkai in parallel with the electricity produced from hydropower in the new climate-neutral way.
The state of Schleswig-Holstein supported the building of the EUR 13.5 million powerplant with ~EUR 9 million and lobbied at the federal level for a reduction of the EEG apportionment on shore power.
On April 26, 2018, the State of Schleswig-Holstein, the State Capital City of Kiel, the Port of Kiel, and Costa Group signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the joint promotion of eco-friendly cruise tourism in the port of Kiel onboard AIDAluna at OSTSEEKAI.
The on-shore power plant at OSTSEEKAI has been tested and certified with AIDAsol since May 17. The ship will receive shoreside power in regular operations in Kiel Germany with immediate effect.
The on-shore power plant has been supplying Stena ferries with green electricity on a daily basis since January. This saves ~5000 tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide) annually at Schwedenkai alone. For every cruiser supplied with shore power, there is an additional saving of ~45 tonnes of CO2 on average at OSTSEEKAI. Since May 2019, Color Line ferries at Norwegenkai have been connected to the shore-side grid, resulting in a further 3,000 tonnes less CO2 a year.
The core electrical and electronic elements of the power plant have been supplied by Siemens. It essentially consists of medium-voltage switchgear, automation, converters, and an energy monitoring system.