Merseyside shipyard Cammell Laird will take on a £7m project to deliver net zero power to vessels in its yard after securing £3.5m from the Government. Tony McDonough reports
Vessels in for repair, refit or build in Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead will have access to a net zero power supply as part of a £7m project.
Cammell Laird, part of the APCL Group, has secured £3.5m from the UK Department for Transport’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 4 towards the cost of its green shore power project.
This will be the project of its kind in the UK and will mean that vessels in the shipyard will not have to rely on their marine fuel engines for power. Instead they will be powered by an onshore source.
This ‘net zero’ power will be supplied by Cammell Laird’s energy supplier Scottish Power from renewable sources such as wind.
Mike Hill, managing director of Cammell Laird said the yard had been working on the Green Shore Power Project for more than six years.
It would, he added, not only lead to a “significant reduction” in emissions but also be a “catalyst for improvement” across the site’s wider infrastructure.
He said: “Our success in securing this funding demonstrates Cammell Laird’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and to developing a sustainable business of the future, which will benefit our workforce, our customers and wider community.”
CMDC4 is funded by the UK Department for Transport and delivered by Innovate UK. It is part of the Department’s UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme, a £206m initiative.
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Another part of the APCL Group, A&P Falmouth, will also be able to provide sustainable clean shore power to vessels after it was successful in a bid to the UK Government’s Zero Emission Vessel Infrastructure fund (ZEVI).
This £12m project will see A&P Falmouth provide the UK’s first multi-vessel flexible shore power connections on Cornwall’s Atlantic Peninsula. As well as reducing CO2 emissions, the technology will also reduce noise.
David McGinley, chief executive of APCL Group, added: “Sustainability is a challenge we need to tackle head on as an industry, that’s why we’re hugely excited about these two major new projects and their potential to help drive forward innovation in that field.”