Ningbo, Zhejiang: Green electricity shapes low-carbon port landscape

On the shores of the East China Sea, 10,000- metric ton containerships and bridge cranes work tirelessly along the quays at Ningbo-Zhoushan Port. As the year comes to a close, the port has become a scene of nonstop activity. On Dec 15, at the Daxie Container Terminal of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, State Grid Ningbo Power Supply Company staff joined terminal personnel in completing the shore-power connection for the container liner First Trust.

Personnel from State Grid Ningbo Power Supply Company arrived early at the terminal's shore-side power system within the port, coordinating with the port authority and the engineering team of the container vessel First Trust to confirm the assigned berth and cable length in advance, ensuring an efficient shore-power connection.

The First Trust is operated by Ocean Network Express (ONE), the world's sixth-largest container shipping company, and shuttles between Asia and Europe, calling at multiple ports on both continents as it provides cargo transport services across nations. "Today the shore-power hook-up only takes 30 minutes to complete; this level of efficiency would be impossible without the professional technical support of the power-supply staff," said Sun Longwei.

Ningbo-Zhoushan Port serves more than 300 shipping lines and connects to over 600 ports in more than 200 countries and territories. Its annual cargo throughput has ranked first globally for 16 consecutive years. With the green transition as a strategic priority, the port is rapidly expanding shore-to-ship power, deploying battery-electric heavy-duty trucks and directly consuming locally generated wind and solar electricity, achieving low-carbon terminal operations.

Within the Ningbo port area, the 13 high-voltage shore-power systems built by State Grid Ningbo now cover all four major container terminals — Beilun, Chuanshan, Meishan and Daxie. As of Nov 30, these systems have connected 430-plus vessels, delivering 8.6 gigawatt hours of electricity — up 56 percent year-on-year — displacing more than 2,000 tons of fuel and cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 5,700 tons. At Meishan, Zhejiang's first green-electricity terminal, the integrated wind- photovoltaics-storage supply system has already generated over 50 GWh of renewable power, reducing carbon emissions by 25,800 tons and raising the share of the terminal's energy demand that can be met by self-produced green energy to 60 percent.

In addition, State Grid Ningbo has installed at Meishan Terminal five 6.25-megawatt wind turbines, 1.72-megawatt-peak of distributed rooftop PV, and a 1 MW/2-megawatt-hour battery storage unit. Operating under a "self-generation for self-use, surplus fed to grid" model, the complex delivers roughly 59.17 GWh of clean electricity annually, cuts CO2 emissions by about 22,600 tons, and saves the terminal more than 5 million yuan ($711,613) in energy costs each year.