Major Milestone for A&P Falmouth's Shore Power Project as Spade Hits the Ground.

Work has started on the delivery phase of A&P Falmouth's ZEVI funded Shore Power Project.

The £12m shore power project will see A&P Falmouth provide the UK’s first multi-vessel flexible shore power connections on Cornwall’s Atlantic Peninsula in partnership with engineering design specialists Marine Zero. Appointed contractor Integrum will now carry out the HV upgrade to the facility which will enable the delivery of clean power to vessels alongside and in dry dock in Falmouth. As well as reducing CO2 emissions, the technology will also reduce noise in the port.

This milestone marks the commencement of a six-month civils project comprising two main work packages.

The first package will include an upgrade to the existing A&P Falmouth site HV distribution substations with a full site wide asset replacement of the aging infrastructure, also included within the works is a relocation of some currents assets into new external GRP solutions for Substation No1-B and Substation 5. In addition, an extensive HV cable overlay installation will allow the facility to increase the sites capacity for the new shore power solutions. Package two involves the installation of new HV connection points across the facility for the shore power units.

Drystan Jones, Port Development Director at A&P Falmouth, said: “This is a key milestone in the Zevi project and an exciting step towards delivering the installation of the new shore power system in Falmouth”.

"Sustainable shore power plays a vital role in global and national efforts to reduce the impact of the maritime industry on the environment. Our strategy at A&P Falmouth is to achieve net zero across our operations by 2030”.

“"It was fantastic to invite the project teams, contractors, installation and delivery teams together to celebrate the beginning of such an important project”

A&P Falmouth is part of the APCL Group and provides vital ship repair, conversion and in-service support to commercial and defence vessels and is a centre of excellence a centre of excellence for ferries, mobilisation and demobilisation works, jack-ups, pontoons and tankers and MoD defence vessels.

David McGinley, CEO of APCL Group said: "A&P Falmouth and the wider APCL Group sustains 100 per cent of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and also provides vital ship repair services to the Royal Navy.

“This shore power project will further the Ministry of Defence's commitment to reducing the impact of vessels on the environment and it is testament to the vital services we deliver and our reputation in the industry that we were chosen by UK Government to be one of the recipients of this funding.”

Attending the event included representatives from the A&P project team, Marine Zero and civils contractor Integrum. Andy Hurley, operations director for Marine Zero said: “We are proud to be the partner of choice for this significant infrastructure investment which will enable A&P Falmouth and their customers to achieve their sustainability goals.

“Drawing on our team’s high level of experience in shore power, we are delighted to be supporting the project with technical design and specification expertise, as well as project management.”

Quote from Integrum

Integrum Power Engineering, part of the OCU group, is honoured to be included and entrusted with delivering A&P Falmouth's ambitious journey to a Net Zero strategy through the utilization of shore power. This unique, one-of-a-kind project in the UK presents a number of complications and challenges throughout its delivery, including ensuring that disruption to the ship repair facility is kept to a minimum.

Through extensive preconstruction and design, a solution was proposed with a flexible delivery model that allowed for minimal disruption and maximum efficiencies. Key factors in our design included supply resilience and maximum utilization to ensure the maximum uptime of the shore power solutions.

Daniel Hill, Operations Manager of IPE, said: "IPE is grateful for the trust placed in us to deliver this once-in-a-generation investment at the A&P Falmouth facility. Shore power solutions within the UK are very limited and present a number of challenges within the unique operating model of a ship repair facility. Innovations in the market are key to allowing full utilization of the solution. During this development stage of the project, having a full understanding of the onsite marine operations and engineering team has been crucial to ensure the correct solution is developed that is both buildable as a project and allows for simple and effective operation."

Charles Darling, Project manager of IPE, Said: “Integrum are thrilled to be involved in a project that is a brand-new industry to us which coincides with what we as a business are aiming to achieve which is to be net carbon zero by 2030. This presents new engineering challenges that we are delighted to be at the forefront off, as no doubt we will take the skills and experience learnt from this and adapt them to upcoming projects.

Furthermore, a bonus in undertaking this project is getting to work by this outstanding marine beauty and ensuring we are taking steps towards maintaining it.”

ZEVI is part of the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emission’s (UK SHORE), focused on clean maritime technologies that can be scaled rapidly to decarbonise the UK’s domestic maritime sector. In March 2022, the Department announced the biggest government investment ever in our UK commercial maritime sector, allocating £206m to UK SHORE, a new division within the Department for Transport focused on decarbonising the maritime sector. UK SHORE is delivering a suite of interventions throughout 2022-2025 aimed at accelerating the design, manufacture and operation of UK-made clean maritime technologies and unlocking an industry-led transition to Net Zero.

APCL company Cammell Laird is also developing a cutting-edge Green Shore Power Project, following a £3.5m funding injection from the UK Department for Transport’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 4 (CMDC4).

ENDS