From Energy Islands to Artificial Intelligence: Decarbonisation as an Engine of Development and Innovation for Ports.

An edited and revised version of this article has been published in Italian on RiEnergia here.

Despite the decision to delay the opening of the public tenders for the Energy Island North Sea project in the face of an estimated cost of more than 50 billion kroner (6.7 billion euros) and the uncertainties of the project, the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities and the Energy Agency say they are optimistic that cheaper solutions that can minimise the risks of this ambitious development can be found quickly. Instead of spring, the tenders will be opened at the end of the year, but the schedule for the islands to begin operation in 2030-33 in the first phase and 2040 in the second phase remains in place.?

In recent years, the Danish government has launched a new decarbonisation strategy aimed at achieving the goal of 70% emission reduction by 2030 (on a 1990 basis) and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The decarbonisation strategy leverages renewable energy in the Baltic Sea and North Sea, selecting two strategic locations as energy hubs: the island of Bornholm, located between Poland, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, and a new artificial island in the North Sea. Both projects in a first phase are expected to play the role of hubs to consolidate energy flows from various offshore wind farms. For the Energy Island North Sea, the project envisions about 3GW of renewable energy through 2033, equivalent to the annual needs of 3.3 million households, rising to 10 GW in 2040.The Energy Island of Bornholm is more modest with about 3GW planned for 2030, however, accompanied by the total decarbonisation of the island that has about 40,000 inhabitants and 1.8 million tourist overnights per year.

The island of Bornholm aims to be a laboratory of sustainability in northern Europe, having committed not only to being zero-emissions as early as 2025, but also to becoming an example of a circular economy, with a goal to recycle 100 percent of the island's waste by 2032, and to ban fossil fuels entirely by 2040. The energy islands in the small Scandinavian country of about 5.8 million people are one of the most evocative projects of the energy transition in northern Europe. But it is just one of the demonstrations of how decarbonisation comes through the sea.?

WindEurope estimates that Europe's installed offshore wind capacity amounts to about 32 GW including investments in the first half of 2023, and is set to increase. To reach the target recently set by the European Parliament of supplying Europe with at least 42.5 percent of its energy needs through renewables by 2030, it would be necessary to double the current installation rate to about 30 GW/year. France is launching an auction for a 250 MW floating wind farm near Brittany and has new auctions planned for next year. Several gigawatts of floating wind farms are being built in the United Kingdom and southern Europe. Meanwhile, Portugal is preparing to hold its first dedicated floating wind auctions.

The development of this offshore infrastructure also represents an opportunity for the maritime sector. Offshore wind power is already an important part of the European shipping industry, using vessels such as jack-up and roll-on roll-off ships to install and manage wind farms and cables and to move workers. More than 100 ships are currently used in Europe for the installation of offshore wind farms and the laying of cables, while another 300 are used for maintenance and the transport of personnel. And it is some of these ships that are experimenting with the use of low-emission fuels to reduce the burden of logistics activities on the industry's ecological footprint. Hybrid propulsion is making its way, for example, into Service Operation Vessels (SOVs), which are the industry standard for off-shore sites. For example, the Norwegian company Edda Wind, owned by Wilhelmsen/?stensj?, has ordered a fleet of six hybrid-powered vessels, with the intention of converting them to hydrogen propulsion in the future.

But the challenges of the renewable energy chain are not limited to the technologies used in SOVs. In fact, the development of renewables requires low-carbon logistics that go beyond ships, but also include terminals, ports, and land-based logistics chains. Furthermore, energy production in an increasingly decentralised and distributed form is increasing the demand for logistics, while the limited availability of logistics goods and services is driving up costs. The complexity of the energy supply chain is increasing and this requires better visibility and control. A recently published white paper by DHL reiterates the need for further collaboration between actors in renewables-related logistics chains, and the development of adequate infrastructure and analytical capabilities for the collection and management of data from these increasingly complex supply chains.

Developments in offshore and renewables, and the energy transition in general, are a huge opportunity for the maritime sector. The case of ports is emblematic. Offshore wind is offering a renaissance to ports and shipyards that were previously underutilised due to the decline of fishing and other maritime industries. Ports with ample space and adequate infrastructure, such as cranes and loading equipment, are ideally placed to support the offshore wind industry. This trend is evident in the European North Sea, particularly in the UK, where east coast ports such as Humber and Teesside have seen significant investment in wind power over the past decade. This would benefit local communities and create new jobs in the emerging energy sector, which in the case of Teesside and Humber is estimated to be in the order of 6,000.

The development of offshore wind energy in deep waters could advance in parallel with the growth of the green hydrogen sector. Producing hydrogen offshore can help overcome the capacity limitations of electrical connections. Moreover, offshore wind has a higher capacity factor than other renewable energies, allowing an electrolyser to run more frequently, optimising the economic efficiency of the project. And on land, many hydrogen applications, such as refineries, metallurgical industry and shipping, are located close to the coasts, a short distance from offshore wind farms. This makes ports strategic nodes for the transit and storage of green hydrogen and other energy carriers, particularly in the face of growing import demand.

Several ports are exploring their role as energy hubs. The port of Valencia (Spain), for example, is experimenting with the expansion of photovoltaics to increase the percentage of renewable energy in port activities. In the two projects PIONEERS and MAGPIE, funded by the European Union in the context of the Horizon2020 programme with around EUR 30 million each, more than 30 prototypes of new technologies and concepts to accelerate the energy transition in ports are being tested. The projects, which are led by the port of Antwerp-Bruges (Belgium) and the port of Rotterdam (The Netherlands) respectively, but involve around a hundred partners and the ports of Barcelona (Spain), Sines (Portugal), Constanta (Romania), Le Havre (France), and the two river ports of DeltaPorts (Germany) and Venlo(The Netherlands), focus on four main directions: clean energy production and supply, sustainable port design, modal-shift, and flow optimisation and digital transformation.

An important aspect of these projects is not only the integration of various key actors and stakeholders, but also the goal of conceiving the port beyond its administrative and physical boundaries, as an intermodal and logistical hub, and as a laboratory for experimentation for new technologies and ideas. Some traffic flow management and optimisation concepts also make use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), allowing these new concepts to be tested in the port context. Already in 2020, the Dutch Coalition for Artificial Intelligence (NL AIC) created a working group for the port and maritime sector, with the collaboration of the Port of Rotterdam and the Technical University of Delft. NL AIC focuses on five essential building blocks, including data exchange, the human factor, innovation, and start-ups to enhance AI innovation in various sectors. The Port of Rotterdam already uses AI in its maintenance operations.

But AI also has great potential in accelerating the energy transition in ports, making operations more efficient and sustainable, and in managing energy flows and the widespread production of renewable electricity in the port, through, for example, virtual power plants and smart grids. In fact, the energy transition will require the port's energy infrastructure to be upgraded, and there will be a strong demand to optimise energy flows and reduce energy needs in port operations through the use of, for example, smart grids. Among the Italian ports, the port of Trieste stands out, where a smart grid is expected to be launched from 2026, but with visible results as early as next year, following an 18 million euro project financed within the National Resilience Plan.

Many ports are already exploiting AI to optimise logistics operations, reducing their carbon footprint. Already in 2020, HPC Hamburg Port Consulting implemented a machine learning-based solution at HHLA's Burchardkai Terminal in Hamburg (Germany) to improve the efficiency of operations, significantly reducing container handling times and energy consumption, and the potential reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. AI and machine learning can predict the duration of operations based on historical data and variables such as weather conditions, and react in real time to changes. These technologies have already brought significant benefits in ports such as Tanjung Priok (Indonesia), reducing waiting times for ships and distances travelled in terminals. As AI evolves, it is expected to further improve the management of berths, logistics operations ashore, and ship arrival forecasting, contributing to smarter and more sustainable shipping.

It is also important to note that part of the demand for zero- or low-carbon energy will have to be met by importing chemical carriers such as ammonia and hydrogen. In this context, ports will play a critical role. Interest in international hydrogen trade has grown rapidly, following the war in Ukraine and the green transition. The EU has increased the target for hydrogen in its energy mix to 20 million tonnes per year by 2030, with imports covering 50% of these volumes. Even though some of these imports will be by pipeline, as evidenced by Snam's strategic investments in Algeria and Tunisia, ports offer a flexibility advantage in the face of growing geopolitical uncertainty and given that the construction of new import infrastructure will take time.?The energy transition represents a challenge but also an unprecedented opportunity for the maritime and port sector.

Ports are set to become strategic hubs in the energy ecosystem of the future, linking production, distribution and consumption in an increasingly sustainable and technologically advanced framework. The integration of artificial intelligence in ports will not only enhance the efficiency of port operations, but could play a key role in the energy transition, contributing to the centrality of ports as drivers of sustainable development and innovation in the European context. The vision of a green energy future, supported by cutting-edge technologies, is now on the horizon, but without European ports the green revolution could become a missed revolution.