EU Funds Pilot to Demonstrate Offshore Power Zones to Charge Vessels
The European Union’s flagship Horizon Europe research and innovation program is providing a €5 million ($5.8 million) grant to an international consortium led by Stillstrom, a Maersk company, to develop and demonstrate offshore charging infrastructure for stationary vessels at anchor with their engines running. The project is due to kick off next month, June, and is expected to run for 36 months, demonstrating the concept and also assessing commercial viability and regulatory pathways to support wider adoption of offshore charging.
Efforts to develop the concepts for offshore charging were started in 2019 by what was then Maersk Supply Services and later spun off to become an independent company, Stillstron, in 2022. The company has been pursuing the development of its technology, aiming at two key segments. It looks to power offshore wind farm operations vessels through electrification. It has developed the ability for the battery-powered vessels to recharge by plugging into the wind farm.
Stillstrom also highlights that at any given time, more than 6,500 vessels are idle at approximately 200 anchorages worldwide. They estimate these vessels are collectively emitting over 30 million tons of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and associated air pollutants.
“Near shore idling vessels represent a significant and often overlooked source of GHG emissions, making them a clear and immediate opportunity for decarbonization,” explains Stillstrom CEO Kristian Borum Jørgensen. He highlights that the project will “bring together partners from across the maritime ecosystem, enabling us to collectively accelerate offshore power from concept to real-world deployment, delivering a practical and economical solution for the maritime sector.”
SPARK will create the first trial for a zone that could eventually charge many vessels using shore pwoer and cut emissions (Stillstrom)
The SPARK project calls for creating one of these offshore power zones outside Skagen, Denmark, one of the busiest anchorages in Northern Europe. The project will develop and test a pilot that will enable vessels to plug into an at-sea power point with electricity provided via the nearby Port of Skagen. The pilot will initially support a single ship connection to prove the concept in a live operational environment.
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Stillstrom will spearhead the project, working alongside its partners Aalborg University, DNV, Maersk, MARIN, Port of Malta, Port of Skagen, and University College London.