JNPA to get ₹671 crore from World Bank arm to scale up shore power facilities: How do other Indian ports compare?

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) will became the first in India to get $70 million (about ₹671 crore) in blue financing from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to scale up shore-to-ship power supply (SPS) across its terminals.

Shore power, also known as cold ironing, is the process of ports providing power to ships and other vessels berthed at its terminals, which lets them switch off their auxiliary engines till they depart, thus reducing their emissions.

Though the idea of shore power is not new, it has not been implemented at scale in any of India's 12 major ports that are currently operational, which is where the blue financing from the World Bank arm comes into play.

The long-term financing from the IFC, announced on Monday, is now expected to help the JNPA adopt the technology at scale, paving the way for other ports to do so as well.

“Funding from international development institutions like IFC will enable JNPA to manage early-stage commercial risks, build operational experience and bring international best practices prior to scale-up,” explained Gaurav Dayal, Chairperson, JNPA, in a statement.

This also comes as India's busiest container port, recently designated by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) as one of India's four mega ports, plans to scale up its cargo operations over time.

JNPA also estimates that the project will cut carbon emissions by about 63 per cent, reduce harmful air pollution by up to 90 per cent, and create more than 400 jobs.

This would mean a big push for India's decarbonisation goals under the Maritime India Vision 2030, but more specifically the Harit Sagar Green Port Guidelines, which identifies shore power as one of the key pathways to greening ports.

Shore power at other Indian ports

It was the V.O. Chidambaranar Port that kicked off the use of shore power in India for two of its berths (VOC-II and VOC-III) back in 2017, at which time it had planned to extend this to all its berths over the years.

The Kamarajar and Mumbai ports are those with the latest updates on the status of their shore power.

While the Tamil Nadu-based port offers shore power at its coal terminals, the Mumbai Port offers SPS at active shore power facilities at seven key locations—at five points at its Indira Dock (ID) berths and two at the Jawahar Dweep (JD) ones. The latter's shore power is capable of a maximum load of 150kW, which is enough for providing shore power to port crafts, tugs, and other smaller vessels.

The Chennai Port has a similar arrangement to these two ports, providing shore power supply for naval and Indian Coast Guard vessels, as well as ones used by the port itself.