APN Asfaltcentrale Nijmegen was awarded a grant by City of Nijmegen in the CLINSH workpackage on onshore power supply (OPS). The asphalt plant is located in the Oost-Kanaalhaven industrial port. The OPS cabinet will be used to provide electricity to cargo ships berthed at the plant. Clients’ ships will use OPS before or after loading and unloading. Third party users can use OPS during overnight berthing and overhaul periods as a general service. The shore-side cabinets will be put into operation in mid-April.

The APN initiative will help solve the shortage of OPS in the industrial port. The city has already been successful in providing OPS on public quays, but in CLINSH the focus is on private quays. APN is motivated to reduce noise and emissions for nearby residential areas and thus increase its “environmental space”.

The OPS cabinet will provide 6 times 32 Ampere and 2 times 16 Ampere connections, and will also be combined with electric vehicle charging. The power is taken from the plant’s power connection (low voltage grid), which reduces the costs compared to OPS in many other locations. The OPS fee is 20 eurocents/kWh, 7 cents below the common fee in the Netherlands. The expected consumption per year will be around 3,400 kWh.

The use of OPS will be mandatory for ships berthed in this location. Skippers can access the OPS cabinet via the so-called Ecocard, that is already used by all inland vessels for waste management and now promoted to facilitate the administration and payment for OPS. This is handled by Stichting Afvalstoffen Binnenvaart (SAB).

The City of Nijmegen is also processing applications for other OPS pilot initiatives in the CLINSH project.