Renewable, circular energy was the topic at the workshop hosted by Port of Hvide Sande and Hvide Sande District Heating.
We have collected presentations from the speakers of the workshop WAVE/HYDROGEN/HEAT workshop, so you have the opportunity to refresh your memory or obtain the knowledge and experiences from the many presentations.
Presentations
Welcome to Hvide Sande and the Port of Hvide Sande,
By Mr. Steen Davidsen, CEO, Port of Hvide Sande, DK
Information about North Sea Region Program and what we can expect in next period,
By Mr. Christian Byrith, CEO, Interreg North Sea Region Secretariat Viborg, DK
DUAL Ports HEAT Pilot – Wave, Solar, Wind, Heat and Hydrogen – making Hvide Sande to a zero-emission city – How we will utilize our position at the coast!
By Mr. Martin Halkjær, Director, Hvide Sande Heat System, Denmark
Windfarms at the west coast of Jutland – Case of wind energy development in the North Sea
By Mr. Arne Rahbek, Director for Communication, Vattenfall, Denmark
DUAL Ports WAVE Pilot – Technology and potential
Case of wave energy development in the North Sea
By Mrs. Irina Temiz, PhD Senior lecturer, Renewable Electricity Production, Division of Electricity, Uppsala University, Sweden
The Wave sector in Northern Europe – Outlook, practical experiences and news.
By Mr. Jens Peter Kofoed, Head of Division, Associated Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Aalborg, Denmark
Wave technology and possibilities – dual or multi tech solutions.
By Mrs. Marcelle Askew, VP Projects, Seabased ab, Sweden
Hydrogen technology and green technology. How do we combine different sources of energy?
By Mrs. Kristina Fløche Juelsgaard, Business Development Director, Ballard Power, Denmark
Hydrogen introduction in Port of Hvide Sande – How we plan to implement hydrogen to ships.
By Mr. Carl Erik Kristensen; CEO, Hvide Sande Ship Yard
DUAL Ports HYDROGEN Pilot experiences. The Orkney island case – how we use green surplus energy and how we are training in the field of Hydrogen.
By Mr. David Hibbert, Technical Superintendent, Development & Infrastructure – Marine Services, Scapa – Orkney, Scotland.
Port and City – How to combine different energy forms in port areas. Renewable Energy Cluster – Norway, The Trondheim Case
By Mr. Ole Svendgård, Fornybarklyngen – Cluster leader, Norway
How we run the Blue-Green development in our part of the world – The GRO case
By Mr. Lars Korsgaard Jørgensen and Mrs. Susanne Trip Nielsen, Ringkøbing-Skjern Erhvervsråd, Denmark
How to create a better environment in Ringkøbing Fjord – The Biomass production Case
By Mr. Kim Iversen, Biologist at Denmarks Center for Wild Salmon, Denmark
Niedersachsen Ports participated and presented our DUAL Ports project at INTERREG Annual Conference in Bremen.
How can we work successfully in the North Sea Region? That was the overall question of the conference w more than 150 participants on November 12th 2019 in Bremen. The focus was to discuss the value of european network for local development and there was a mutual understanding; european cooperation creates value for both municipalities and regions and local issues can be overcome through cross-country cooperation.
The challenges of climate changes requires a joint effort. Transnational cooperation therefore continuous to be significantly important for the North Sea Region to continue as a sustainable, effective, competitive and attractive area in constant development.
Read the full article here (in German)
Innovative industrial co-siting at the Port of Oostende, Belgium, helps ensuring optimal land-use in ports. But more importantly, it supports business development by offering an area with an overarching environmental permit and safety policy, shared infrastructure, facilities and logistics leading to optimized cost structures and opportunities for circular initiatives.
Companies belonging to renewable energy -, storage-, chemical and logistic sector involved in activities with hazardous products are inclined to meet high level safety standards and are thereby subject to permanent control and reporting mechanisms set by the national, regional and local legislators. Dockland offers a robust and sustainable environment in the interest of all stakeholders to preserve business continuity and guarantee opportunities for accelerated entrepreneurial growth within port areas.
Fast entrance to Docklands’ clustered environment at the Port of Oostende is enabled due to the overarching environmental permit which is providing opportunities for companies aiming to easily realize new business projects. This can be opposed to a stand-alone initiative which is much more time consuming. Furthermore, Dockland offers the opportunity to gain access to port areas even with smaller area demands and thus realizing low-barrier access to a prime logistic location in port areas that would otherwise be less accessible, especially for SME’s.
Sustainable, clustering environment
Approximately 100.000 m2 land at the Port of Oostende will be the location of co-siting. The location at the Port of Oostende ensures an efficient and cost-effective use of land through smart location of operational units and shared facilities. In addition, companies can profit from the benefits of a prime logistic location connected to the main rail, water and highway networks, all organized in a sustainable way.
Due to the applied clustering master planning land use is optimized and leads to a substantial increase of the added value per square meters as a result of shared infrastructure and logistic areas. Making use of this shared infrastructure and utilities leads to important cost-reductions compared to a stand-alone situation, while responding to the current societal needs.
At the same time companies can focus on their core activities and take advantage of clustering opportunities to reduce their CO2 footprint. Cooperation at Dockland will stimulate networking, circular use of resources and opportunities for innovation.
The future of DOCKLAND
A specialized working group in Dockland is managing the complicated administrative task of applying for a permit to cover one site which includes a risk assessment.
However, hopes are high. The neighboring environment, schools and universities were invited to Dockland for an introduction of its facilities and its future plans. The Port of Oostende encouraged the visitors to ask any questions and the business case was well received.
Docklands’ expectation is that they will receive an approved environmental permit in 2021, and companies are already showing great interest about the possibilities and future prospects.
In October, the port companies Niedersachsen Ports and Groningen Seaports hosted the workshop Sediment Management in Ports in Eemshaven, Holland. Experts were invited to share their work on issues concerning an efficient management of sediments and the handling of dredging material in ports. The workshops participants had the opportunity to find answers to questions such as what is the impact of current and future sediment movements in the North Sea and the rivers on the sediment entry into ports and what technological developments promise the highest benefit when it comes to warranting safe access to the ports and improve their ecological footprints?
We have collected presentations from the speakers of the workshop Sediment Management in Ports, so you may also have the opportunity to obtain knowledge on the subject.
The nature perspective: Environmental Effects of Sediment Management by Gregor Scheiffarth and Dr. Inga Nordhaus, Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority (DE)
Large-scale sediment transport and morphological modeling as a sediment management tool by Dennis Oberrecht, NLWKN (DE)
General Dredging Introduction and Sediment Logistics by Jef De Brabandere, Adjuvans (BE)
Generating Energy by Gasification of Marine Sediments and Waste by Theis von Appen, EXOY Green Systems Gmb H (DE)
Plastix Flux to the Sea and Innovation Trajectories by Eric Toorman (Devriesa, Lisa), Flanders Marine Institute (BE)
Analysis-Methodology of Event-Driven Sedimentation in a Shipyard by Jan Fischer, Ludwig-Franzius-Institute for Hydraulic, Estuarine and Coastal Engineering (DE)
Building with Nature by Martin Baptist, Wagening Marine Research Ecoshape (NL)
Re-use of Sediment in Port or Coastal Infrastructure by Luca Sittoni, Deltares, Ecoshape (NL)
The EU Project DUAL Ports
Niedersachsen Ports has designed this workshop as part of the European project DUAL Ports, which was initiated in 2015. It is funded by the EU and the Interreg North Sea Program. DUAL Ports brings ports, companies, and scientific institutions from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Scotland to the table. The objective of this collaboration is the joint development of solutions and approaches for the long-term reduction of CO2 emissions and pollution caused by the activities of the port industry. The exchange of knowledge between the partners and the resulting synergies are intended to support and accelerate the development and implementation of sustainability innovations in ports.
Further information about the project DUAL Ports is available here: www.northsearegion.eu/dual-ports and www.dualports.eu
The Workshop-Agenda is available here: https://www.nports.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Sediment_Workshop_Eemshaven_Agenda.pdf
We can all learn from small ports
During the closing session of GreenPort Congress 2019, small ports showcased the steps they have been taking to tackle emissions and build operational environmental awareness with limited resources.
The Port Authority of Skyros in Greece’s Aegean Sea has invested in electric vehicles, an airborne particles station at Linaria Port and runs university and school volunteer programmes as part of its bid to be sustainable.
Planning and committing to environmental initiatives is not an easy task as Kyriakos Antonopoulos, president of the voluntary-run port authority explained. In post since 2005, with no staff and without a salary, Mr Antonopoulos said the “annual budget of the port is only €150,000” and finances have been constrained by “Greek austerity”, while the future of the port is uncertain.
Currently owned by 300 local shareholders resident in Skyros, the port may be privatised and incorporated into a larger port group, Mr Antonopoulos said.
Student volunteers
Still the port has managed to introduce an impressive amount of eco measures into its passenger, commercial and fishing operations. These include annual sea bed clean-ups, regular oil spill exercises, a ship-generated waste management plan, recycling of waste materials and use of electric vehicles. This is alongside work with the University of Patros to set up an airborne particles station.
Skyros’ student programme aims to bring participants back to nature and boost mental health. The eco-therapy-focused Skyros Project enables students to undertake two-month internships and live in an eco-village.
The project became possible when the port formed a relationship with Greece’s University of the Aegean in 2015. Cooperating with universities and volunteers is a feasible way of achieving change for ports with no financial leverage, explained Mr Antonopoulos.
Constantina Skanavis, professor in environmental communication and education at Greece’s University of West Attica, has been working with the port since being in post at the University of the Aegean. Before working with the port, she noted that small ports didn’t have the funding or infrastructure to achieve what bigger ports could and wanted to get students involved in Skyros’ environmental work.
“I was able to convince college students from all over the world to come to this small island and live with us for two months. We showed that by being in contact with the sea, working outdoors, constructing things from nature. All of a sudden they became very happy. Promoting responsible behaviour was my goal,” said Professor Skanavis.
The success of the Skyros project means that it is set to be made into a foundation next year.
This work hasn’t gone unrecognised. In 2018, Skyros secured Blue Flag status, awarded by the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Life Nature, and the Skyros Project won a ‘Minimal waste and Public Choice Award’ as part of the I LIVE GREEN video competition run by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) and its partner network in 2018.
The year before it became part of ESPO’s EcoPorts network, the smallest member to date. It is also part of the Ecocity Forum.
Port of Helsingor
Jonatan Sandager Hansen, project manager at the Port of Helsingor in Denmark explained that the port’s proximity to local communities necessitates careful consideration of air quality and noise levels.
Helsingor, which focuses on ferries, dry bulk and cruise operations, aims to build new quay with shore power. The port currently has small amount of shore power, but not enough to power a cruise ship, explained Mr Hansen.
But while it has ambitious plans for shore power, and currently has an electric tug and hybrid forklift – made possible as equipment manufacturers are offering machinery in different price brackets, it cannot afford to replace equipment on the scale of a larger port, only when current equipment no longer works.
However, is facilitating the reduction of its carbon footprint, wherever possible. It has invested in wind power, accommodates battery-powered ferries and supports short-sea shipping. The port also uses local contractors with the aim of ensuring contractors minimise the distance they drive to cut emissions, and to make sure money spent goes back into the local community, while offering a sense of ownership for local citizens.
“There is a lot being done to make sure emissions and sound are as low as possible,” Mr Hansen said.
“I look at sediment management from a natural perspective. In the projects I am involved with, I look at sediment as a source to create natural values. To create salt marshes and systems that redefine sediment instead of just throwing it out into the sea and wait to see where it ends up. We can use sediment as a resource to recycle – to make something more beautiful of it.”
Martin Baptist is an engineer and marine ecologist at Wageningen Marine Research and working for EcoShape (NL). His interest in the harmonisation of human impacts with natural processes is central in one of his project which researches on the smart use of dredged sediment for the growth of salt marshes.
Salt marshes are very important ecosystems for several reasons:
- They are breeding and resting places for birds
- They are spawning ground for fish
- They reduce wave impact and protect the coast against erosion
- They trap sediment so the coast can grow
- Salt marshes also capture CO2
But the climate changes and the rise of sea level puts salt marshes under pressure. Martin Baptist is part of a project that investigates the right conditions for salt marsh construction and the best possible ways to develop salt marshes in a natural way.
In this project, the Marconi salt marshes, the EcoShape consortium studies morphological and biological conditions in a constructed salt marsh in large-scale experimental plots. Sand was mixed with dredged sediment in various percentages and parts were sown in with Glasswort seedlings. Knowledge obtained in the project helps the development of climate adaptation measures worldwide.
Another project Baptist is involved with is the ‘Mud Motor’. A Mud Motor is a dredged sediment disposal in the form of a semi-continuous source of mud. Natural processes are allowed to disperse the sediment to nearby mudflats and salt marshes. The Mud Motor is part of the Living Lab for MUD (Multifunctional Use of Dredged sediment) by Ecoshape and its partners that carries out five pilot projects to develop knowledge about the sustainable use of sediment.
The Mud Motor project showed that the feasibility of a Mud Motor depends on an assessment of travel time for the dredger, the effectiveness on salt marsh growth, reduced dredging volumes in a port and many other practical issues.
Sediment and salt marshes
Martin Baptist joined us as a speaker at our latest workshop on Sediment Management in Ports to present his perspective on sediment. He shared his research on the beneficial use of dredged sediment to enhance salt marsh development by applying a “Mud Motor” and by constructing salt marshes.
Sediment management is a necessary part of port maintenance and development that ensures ports’ ability to support big vessels and large volumes. The use of dredging technology differs and the most sustainable solution may also differ depending on each port. However, the disposal of sediment is necessary for many ports and can cause issues. Re-using sediment for salt marsh development is a sustainable way of using existing materiale.
Martin Baptists’ research have improved our understanding on transport processes in the channel and on the mudflats and salt marshes and provides guiding principles for future application of sediment management in salt marsh development.
Knowledge Transfer for the Topic: Sediment Management between Ports, Industry, and Environmental Research
Groningen | Oldenburg, October 29, 2019
The tidal currents keep the sea floor in perpetual motion. These currents cause the formation of sand and mud deposits that can affect maritime ship traffic. In order to ensure access to the ports and port facilities, the waterways must have a certain, guaranteed depth. Many port companies in the North Sea region are facing the same challenges: on the one hand, they must ensure smooth port operations and, on the other hand, reduce their ecological footprint.
The port companies Niedersachsen Ports and Groningen Seaports are conducting a workshop in Eemshaven, in which experts are working on issues concerning an efficient management of sediments and the handling of dredging material in ports. What is the impact of current and future sediment movements in the North Sea and the rivers on the sediment entry into ports? How can ports respond to changing framework conditions in an environmentally responsible, yet most efficient manner? What technological developments promise the highest benefit when it comes to warranting safe access to the ports and improve their ecological footprint?
Joint Solutions for Innovative Approaches
“From our experience we know that we can best answer questions within networks and collaborations. This is a great way to come up with joint, innovative solutions. Everyone benefits from it, but it is the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site that benefits the most”, Dr. Matthäus Wuczkowski, Sustainability Manager at Niedersachsen Ports, explains.
German, Dutch and Belgian experts from port industry, industry, research, and environmental protection exchange their practical experiences, share their knowledge about ongoing projects and about the latest research findings.
The National Park Administration for the Wadden Sea National Park of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), the Flanders Marine Institute, and the Ludwig-Franzius-Institute are delivering lectures on current research projects around the topic of sediment movements in the Wadden Sea and the impact of released pollutants. Additional emphases are placed on the introduction of efficient dredging technologies, as well as the alternative and environmentally compatible handling of the dredge spoil.
The EU Project DUAL Ports
Niedersachsen Ports has designed this workshop as part of the European project DUAL Ports, which was initiated in 2015. It is funded by the EU and the Interreg North Sea Program. DUAL Ports brings ports, companies, and scientific institutions from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Scotland to the table. The objective of this collaboration is the joint development of solutions and approaches for the long-term reduction of CO2 emissions and pollution caused by the activities of the port industry. The exchange of knowledge between the partners and the resulting synergies are intended to support and accelerate the development and implementation of sustainability innovations in ports.
Further information about the project DUAL Ports is available here: www.northsearegion.eu/dual-ports and www.dualports.eu
The Workshop-Agenda is available here: https://www.nports.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Sediment_Workshop_Eemshaven_Agenda.pdf
The port of Oostende, the port of Zwolle, NPorts and Business Vordingborg will attend the NON STOP kick off event which will be preceded by a conference on smart digitalisation for small and medium sized ports.
Entire port group of Lower Saxony Ports once again reaches European standards.
In August 2019, the port company Niedersachsen Ports received the so-called PERS certificate from EcoPorts. EcoPorts is an environmental initiative of the European Seaport Organization (ESPO). It has developed a special standard for ports, the Port Environmental Review System, which examines the environmental and social impact of port activities. It also examines the extent to which environmental protection is systematically implemented in the company and how far targeted measures have been implemented, e.g. against noise, for lower energy consumption and to improve water or air quality.
“We have decided that we want to be judged against the European standards of EcoPorts with our environmental management and our activities. This certificate confirms our sustainable course. We are pleased about this as it is a confirmation of our work for the coastal region,” explains Holger Banik, Managing Director of Niedersachsen Ports GmbH & Co. KG and JadeWeserPort Realisierungs GmbH & Co. KG who is joined in the picture by the Minister of Economic Affairs of Lower Saxony Dr. Dernd Althusmann.
Holistic and cross-site
For the first time in 2019, the entire port group of Lower Saxony Ports has been considered. Previously, the port locations Wilhelmshaven, Emden, Cuxhaven and Brake have been awarded individually since 2016. The reason for this change is a new, holistic approach based on the environmental management, sustainability strategy and sustainability report of Lower Saxony Ports, which was prepared this year. From the sustainability strategy to the presentation of activities and the key figures, everything is comprehensively recorded in the report.
Niedersachsen Ports is working with other European ports together on measures and strategies for the decarbonization of ports within the EU funded project DUAL Ports.
The latest technological solutions in the maritime and logistics industry presented at the SeaTech conference in Gdansk
The Port of Oostende took part in the SeaTech conference in Gdansk, Poland this week. Wim Stubbe, Business Development Manager at the Port of Oostende presented the DUAL Ports project at the conference.
The main topics at the conference was the latest technological solutions, previous experience and future challenges in the maritime and logistics industry. Experts talked about transformations in four main areas: ports, offshore, shipbuilding and logistics. Proprietary solutions were also presented by startups from the STARTER Gdańsk
You can view the highlights from the conference in this video, or via Polish media.
