Grand Harbour Clean Air Project

Two Maltese Government entities, namely Infrastructure Malta who had the leading role of the infrastructure implementation and Transport Malta as the coordinator, have completed an electrification project providing shore-to-ship electricity for cruise liners operating within the Port of Valletta, Grand Harbour Malta, which terminal is operated by Valletta Cruise Ports. The project is expected to result in a 36.6% reduction of GHG, equivalent to 30,4000 tonnes of Co2e per year, and substantial reductions of other harmful pollutants (-93% NOx, -92.6% PM, -99.6% S02) within the Grand Harbour.

This project provides 64MVA of shore-side electricity for up to 5 cruise ships simultaneously at all cruise berths within the port. This power can be provided individually at each berth at a voltage of 11KV or 5.5KV and at a frequency of 50 or 60Hz. Berths are located at Pinto Wharves (3 berths) in Floriana and Valletta, Deep Water Quay (1 Berth) in Marsa and Boiler Wharf (1 berth) in Senglea. Malta is one of the first in Europe to adopt electrification for cruise liners on a port-wide scale.

Electrical power was brought to the port and distributed via an 8-kilometre 33-kilovolt electrical cable network connecting the north and southern sides of the port to the electricity grid. The electricity is supplied via these cables to two frequency converter stations at the Deep-Water Quay in Marsa (North Side) and Boiler Wharf, in Senglea (South Side).

The frequency converter stations in turn distribute electricity to the berths they serve via 90 kilometers of 11-kilovolt electrical power and control cables. The quays at Pinto also have two switch rooms that control the supply of electricity to the specific berths. Each berth has several shore connection boxes to provide plug-in points along the quay using a specialized mobile cable crane that will make the final connection to the ships. There are 12 shore connection points in the north side at Pinto quays and Deep-Water Quay and another 4 connection points at the south side at Boiler wharf. These provide flexibility to enable the connection to specific ship orientations.

The two frequency converter stations are equipped with 18 transformers ranging from 0.5MVA to 21 MVA and four frequency converters, with 71 switchgear units distributed within these stations and the quayside switch rooms; which constitute the principle electrical equipment needed to channel and control the electrical power distribution to the ships. Each of the two stations has a control room from which the entire system can be monitored and operated.

Through this electrification cruise ships visiting Malta will be able to switch off their gasoil- or heavy-fuel-oil-fired engines and plug in to shoreside electricity to energize their onboard systems whilst they are berthed at port. Through this project co-financed by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility, GHG emissions from cruise ships are reduced by 40% improving air quality for 17,000 families, 7% of the population, living in the Grand Harbour area.