Mumbai, Feb 22 (KNN) The Ministry for Ports, Shipping and Waterways intends to increase the share of renewable energy to 60 per cent of the total power demand of its major ports, said Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) on Tuesday.

Under the Green Ports and Green Shipping initiative of MIV 2030, major ports have implemented and initiated various activities that would help in reducing the GHG (Green House Gases) emissions from the Port and Shipping sector.

The government aims to increase the renewable energy share from the current share of less than 10 per cent.

During a discussion on the Green Port and Green Shipping held in Mumbai, Sonowal pointed out that the ports are also aiming to reduce Carbon emissions, per ton of cargo handled, by 30 per cent by the year 2030.

The discussion was attended by Shantanu Thakur, MoS, MoPSW; Arvind G.  Sawant, MP, South Mumbai; Manoj Kotak, MP, Mumbai North East; Geetha Viswanath Vanga , MP, Kakinada; Sudhansh Pant,  Secretary, MoPSW; Rajiv Jalota, Chairman, Mumbai Port, Shri Sanjay Sethi, Chairman, JNPA and Madhu S Nair,  Chairman, CSL amongst others.

Activities like Shore-to-Ship power, use and promotion of electrically powered Port equipment’s, use of alternate fuels like LNG/CNG, Storage and bunkering facilities for environment friendly fuels like LNG, CNG, Hydrogen, Ammonia etc. have been initiated at many ports to move towards renewable energy, according to an official statement.

“As envisaged in the National Hydrogen Mission, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has identified and nominated Paradip Port, Deendayal Port and V.O. Chidambarar Port for developing them as Hydrogen Hubs, capable of handling, storage and generation of green hydrogen by the year 2030,” the minister added.

The green port initiatives include acquisition of equipment’s for monitoring environmental pollution, acquisition of dust suppression systems, setting up of STP’s garbage disposal system for ports and ships, developing shore reception facility for wastes from ships, setting up projects for energy generation from renewable energy sources etc.  (KNN Bureau)