The cornerstone of the Barcelona port electrification project is a large substation from where all the necessary energy will be supplied to the boats docked at the docks. After receiving prior approval from the board of directors in February and authorization from the Council of Ministers in July, the work has gone out to public tender with a budget of 14 million euros.
The tender includes both the drafting of the project and the execution of the works and the subsequent maintenance and operation of the substation during the two years following construction, which is expected to be in operation throughout 2025. Those responsible for the push for the decarbonisation of the port, they have opted for this turnkey format, and leave the entire project and the start-up in the hands of a single company, in order to speed up the process and not delay the actions that are linked to the entry into service of the substation.
The new facility, which will provide more power than is available today, will be built on a plot of land in the port of Barcelona next to the Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) garages between streets A and Z of the Free Zone. In addition, the port’s own electrical infrastructure will be connected via an underground high-voltage line to the future Cerdà substation that Red Eléctrica de España (REE) is already building on the other side of the Litoral roundabout. This union will require an additional investment of 1.6 million and will give the port of Barcelona the consideration of a major electricity consumer, like El Prat airport.
Parallel to the two substations, the medium voltage network will also be built that will transfer the electricity from the central node to the various port terminals, including the underground connection that will reach the Adossat pier, so that the plugs for ships will arrive at all cruise terminals, where six boats can be connected simultaneously when the time has come.
It is these systems, the so-called OPS (Onshore Power Supply), the bulk of the investment estimated at around 130 million euros until 2030. Those responsible for the plan to make the port an emissions-neutral infrastructure – dubbed Nexigen – work in the technical processing prior to tenders for these connections to the docks, of which the first tests will be carried out at the Best terminal of the loading docks.
