High voltage shore connection implementation in Croatian ports

The use of High Voltage Shore Connection, also referred to as Cold Ironing, is encouraged by strict environmental regulations and increasing fuel oil prices. Offering an alternative for burning expensive low sulphur fuel in the European Community and Emission Control areas ports is becoming very attractive to ship owners. The possibility of High Voltage Shore Connection implementation in Croatian ports is analysed with the example of Dubrovnik and Rijeka, using the available data from port statistics and development plans. The required power per berth is determined to be 15 MVA in Dubrovnik and 7.5 MVA in Rijeka. Relatively high implementation costs can be expected, due to the requirement for frequency converters and insufficient capacity of the existing power supply lines in the harbours. In order to determine the justifiability of High Voltage Shore Connection installation, external costs, which present a monetary equivalent of the harm done to the local community by ship emissions, must be known. Therefore, in order to determine the share of ship emissions in national emissions inventory, in accordance with the recommendations of the European Environment Agency, it is necessary to implement proper pollutant measurement techniques in harbour areas.