Scotland’s most ambitious maritime decarbonisation effort is now operational at the Port of Aberdeen, where vessels can plug into shore power at eight berths in the port’s North Harbour. The project aims to reduce emissions, noise, and fuel use by allowing ships to draw electricity from the national grid instead of running fossil fuel engines while docked.
The shore power system is expected to cut up to 60,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent over 20 years – comparable to taking more than 2,100 cars off the road annually. The installation was delivered as part of the “Shore Power in Operation” demonstrator project, supported by the UK Government’s Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure (ZEVI) programme and Innovate UK, with a total investment of £4 million from public and private partners.
The first ship to use the system was the NS Iona, one of several vessels retrofitted for shore power as part of the initiative. Additional infrastructure is being installed at other berths, including Regent Quay and those used by Serco NorthLink ferries, extending the port’s overall capacity for emissions-free operations.
Port of Aberdeen, a Trust Port aiming to achieve net zero by 2040, is working with an industry-academic consortium to deliver the project. Partners include OSM Offshore, Connected Places Catapult, and the University of Manchester’s Tyndall Centre, with technical support from shore power specialists PowerCon.
According to the Tyndall Centre, wider deployment of shore power across the UK could be supported by changes in national policy, potentially accelerating emissions reductions in the shipping sector, where vessels at berth currently account for nearly half of domestic port emissions.
Maritime Minister Mike Kane described the project as a step forward for the sector’s decarbonisation efforts, noting that investments in clean maritime infrastructure can also bring broader economic and environmental benefits.
The port plans to expand the system to additional berths in the coming years, as part of a long-term effort to reduce the environmental impact of port operations and support a transition to lower-carbon shipping in the North Sea region.
