As part of its general and continuous efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of its activity, Color Line decided
in 2010 to implement a shore power connection together with Port of Oslo for hte Color Magic and Color Fantasy
ROPAX . The shorepower connection avoid Diesel Generators sets emission during these vessel’s 4 hours daily call at
the Oslo terminal and suppressing the equivalent emissions of no less than 1700 cars!
This was the first application of High Voltage Shorepower technology for a merchant vessel in Norway.
For Color Line, DNV class society and Norwegian department of transport authorities, the first key requirement was,
of course, SAFETY, especially as this shore power connection operation would be very repetitive and would involve
heavy and cumbersome high voltage and high amperage cables and contacts. As such, direct manual handling by the
crew was a no go, and a fully mechanized solution, if technically available, was to be preferred, especially if it
allowed, the weight of the cables and connectors being not an issue, to provide extra margins in terms of current
exchange capability. Another safety requirement was the ability to perform an emergency release, without power
blackout, in the case the vessel drifts away from the quay side. From a power exchange point of view, the
requirement was to provide a 4,5 MVA capability, under no less than 11 kV.
Based on this, the innovative PLUG technology was selected.