A carbon-neutral energy hub – Norway pilot site visit

About the pilot site: Port of Borg is situated in an industrial area on a small peninsula called Øra just outside Fredrikstad, Norway. Port work towards a vision and ambition of becoming CO2 neutral, by developing into an energy hub that will help reduce the emissions, with E-LAND enabling this transformation.  In addition to the Enova supported ship-shore connections opening this summer Port of Borg has done substantial investments to fulfil its obligations as a pilot. Lately, Port of Borg has opened its PV plant that may produce up to 1000 kW. Another major investment is a control system and metering infrastructure in order to make energy production and consumption available for visualisation.

The E-LAND applications aim to use the battery system installed at the port to control power spikes, better utilization of locally produced energy and validate different use-cases to understand the efficiency and lifetime of battery systems.

Port of Borg has also developed gateways to its EV chargers to enable remote control of EV charging. With local production, a battery system and control of EV charging it is possible to better prepare for the next step together with introducing carbon-free heavy equipment like reach stackers and tow tractors at the harbour area, these are challenges that Port of Borg try to prepare for by its participation in E-LAND.

To ensure the progress of the piloting sites can be more effective, Smart Innovation Norway, along with Schneider Electric and IFE, visited Port of Borg in Norway, to see one of the European pilots. All this was planned according to the health advisory of each country and fully vaccinated members were able to travel.

Pictured, from left to right: Per Gjerlow, Per Olav Dypvik, Sanket Puranik, Farhan Farrukh, Heidi Tuiskula, Dag Erik, Coralie Esnoul, Bryan Pellerin

Port of Borg – Norway Visit Story

“The main objective of the visit was to monitor the progress of the pilot site and discuss the next steps that are important in order to achieve effective piloting period for the pilot site of Port of Borg. The visit gave each of the partners a better insight into the technical challenges and the impact of the E-LAND toolbox on the port area” says Farhan Farrukh – Piloting Leader

The visit included an overview of the pilot site status and progress so far. The pilot site manager Per Olav Dypvik and Dag Erik briefed the visitors about the challenges faced during the COVID-19 period and how the BIKS team has overcome it to install the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), the 1MW PV plant and recently also installed the ship-shore connection at the port area including the integrations for EV charging stations. The visitors were taken to the main port area, where the different Harbor loads, including on-site BESS, ship-shore connection and other main components that will be part of the E-LAND piloting were observed.

Pictured, various assets at the Port of Borg

“It was extremely useful to be finally discussed in person the technical challenges and the progress that is needed in the later part of the project to set Port of Borg on its path to becoming an Energy hub with carbon-neutral vision,” says Farrukh – Piloting Leader

Pictured, from left to right: Per Olav Dypvik, Per Gjerlow, Sanket Puranik, Heidi Tuiskula, Bryan Pellerin, Coralie Esnoul, Dag Erik

NEXT STEPS:  The piloting has started with the planning of Multi-vector Energy resources on the pilot site. The Port of Borg is using the E-LAND long term investment tools for creating investment plans for installing Hydrogen Electrolyzers that can further support the decarbonization of the port area. Meanwhile, the rest of the pilot integrations are in integration test phases, and the different use-cases will be deployed in the coming months. To ensure a bigger impact of results achieved at Port of Borg, partners discussed the potential of sharing the results and creating an event during 2022 with different energy stakeholders.

We are looking very much forward to the next pilot site in-person visits, where we will be visiting the Spanish pilot site on 23^rd November.  Stay tuned to read our full-detailed article on the Spanish pilot, coming soon.