The UK’s first ‘e-marine hub’ of shoreside charging facilities for electric vessels have been unveiled in Plymouth. The series of high-power DC electric charging stations have been switched on in prominent locations along the perimeter of the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park. This includes the world’s first 150kW charging facility at Mount Batten, the UK’s first 75kW site at MDL’s Queen Anne’s Battery and a 25kW installation at the Barbican landing stage.
Further installations are now being developed along the city’s waterfront, with additional sites also being identified in Devon and Cornwall with a view to providing electric charging facilities every 10 miles along the counties’ southern coastline. Similar electric boat charging networks are being planned and installed across Europe including in Catalonia, waterways in Venice, and Portofino and the south of France.
The charging network has been created through the Marine e-Charging Living Lab (MeLL) initiative, a consortium led by the University of Plymouth in partnership with Plymouth City Council, Princess Yachts Limited and Aqua superPower.
Alex Bamberg, CEO of Aqua superPower, says: “This is the realisation of an important project that started at the end of last year to further Plymouth’s reputation as a centre of excellence in clean maritime innovation. In deploying our dedicated marine fast charge network as part of the project, we are creating the right landscape towards decarbonisation of the marine environment, responding to the Maritime 2050 route map for maritime net-zero. We are proud to have delivered our installations on time to challenging deadlines and greatly appreciate the support of our project partners, the University of Plymouth, Plymouth City Council and Princess Yachts.”
The project is a response to the UK government’s Clean Maritime Plan for maritime net zero, and its drive to increase the UK’s current percentage of clean electricity to 100 per cent by 2035. It has also been designed to offer commercial enterprises of all sizes with a sustainable, cost-effective and time-effective means of making the switch from diesel to electric power.
Research by the university, carried out during the planning stage of the project, has shown it has the potential to reduce port emissions by 96.60% in the next 30 years.
