As part of their involvement in the “OPS Master Plan for Spanish Ports” project, the Canary ports of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera are developping OPS facilities to serve the vessels of the shipping companies Armas and Fred Olsen. The facilities will be operational in Spring 2019. The ultimate goal is that ships can stop their auxiliary engines when at berth resulting in the drastic reduction of ship exhaust emissions and particulate matter as well as the reduction of noise pollution and vibrations. All three ports are embedded in their urban communities and the operation of the new OPS facilities will be having a high positive social impact.
The objective of the “OPS Master Plan for Spanish Ports” project is to draft a Master Plan for the supply of electric power to ships at berth in Spanish ports. The project is part of the National Action Framework for the development of infrastructures for the use of alternative fuels in the transport sector. The OPS Master Plan for Spanish Ports has a budget of 6 million Euros and is co-financed with 1.5 million Euros for the Conecting Europe Facility program (CEF) for the construction of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T).