Lloyd's Register Updates East Mediterranean Projects on Alternative Fuels

Three European Commission co-funded initiatives – Poseidon Med II, CYnergy and Elemed – are driving forward the uptake of alternative fuels in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Poseidon Med II: Creating a comprehensive and sustainable supply chain for LNG bunkering

The Poseidon Med II project is a practical roadmap that aims to promote wide adoption of LNG as a safe, environmentally efficient and viable alternative fuel for shipping and help the East Mediterranean marine transportation propel towards a low carbon future.

The project, which is co-funded by the European Union, involves three countries: Greece, Italy and Cyprus, six European ports (Piraeus, Patras, Lemesos, Venice, Heraklion, Igoumenitsa) as well as the Revithoussa LNG terminal. The project brings together top experts from the marine, energy and financial sectors to design an integrated LNG value chain and establish a well-functioning and sustainable LNG market.

The mission of the project is to propose a holistic approach towards LNG bunkering operations, promoting a competitive investment roadmap and setting a flexible regulatory framework for LNG operations.

Utilising Lloyd's Register (LR)’s rich experience in risk assessment studies, LR experts undertook extensive groundwork in applying high quality safety analysis tools and methodologies (Hazard Identification & operability studies for ports & vessels’ LNG installations, navigation simulations etc), as well as developing a flexible regulatory framework for LNG bunkering operations in Greece.

Poseidon Med II started in June 2015 and will be completed in December 2020, it has a €53.3 million budget, 50% co-financed by the European Union – Connecting Europe Facility.

CYnergy: Leading Cyprus to a new era of energy self-sufficiency

Cyprus joined forces with the European Union’s ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ funding mechanism in April 2017 to embark on a journey that will lead the island to a new era of self-sufficiency in energy.

CYnergy aims to introducing an integrated storage, transmission and distribution system of LNG and CNG to support Cyprus’ industrial, commercial, marine, and road Transport sectors. This will be achieved through: a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) facility permanently berthed in Vassiliko area; a jetty for the FSRU berthing; a jetty borne gas pipeline; an onshore gas pipeline; a pipeline storage array adjacent to Vassiliko power station, and an onshore Above Ground Installation (AGI) – Metering Station. LR experts carried out detailed assessment and safety studies to ensure that the installations and operations will be safe, technically sound and fit for purpose.

The project started in April 2017 and will end in March 2020 with a €7.47 million budget 60% co-financed by the European Union – Connecting Europe Facility. CYnergy has also become the vehicle to secure additional funding of €101million from the EU for gas infrastructure through the submission of CyprusGas2EU.

Elemed: Our future charged, zero emissions through electrification

Elemed aims to realise the vision of zero emissions, zero noise, zero impact for close to port urban, coastal and insular areas. Electrical infrastructure development for port and marine applications can bridge the renewable energy gap within the marine sector, offering a sustainable path to infinite sea mobility. Combining shore power and electrical bunkering is vital to the economies that will trigger further investment and technology uptake.

Elemed has setup a common framework for marine electricity and demonstrated the prospect through the first pilot shore power connection in South Eastern Europe. The project has a comprehensive plan to make the passenger port of Piraeus more environmentally friendly with 15 shore power and charging connections, and similar activities have also been undertaken for Koper and Limassol Ports. In March 2018, Elemed was awarded the Green4Sea initiative award.

LR coordinated the project, which started in April 2016 and ended in March 2018.