The state-owned grant scheme Enova announced it grants 50 million NOK funding as investment support in order to establish shore power facility for cruise ships in Bergen.
Bergen is the largest cruise port in Norway, as well as one of the biggest in Northern-Europe. Throughout 2018, a total of 342 cruise ships will have visited the port city, which is an increase of 31 ships from 2017.
In September, BKK Norway (Bergenshalvoens Kommunale Kraftselskapand) and Port Bergen announced their plan to establish a joint company for building Europe's largest onshore power supply facility, as well as port's shore-power supply facility for cruise vessels. The Bergen-based BKK is a power company owned by Statkraft AS (49,9%, state-owned hydropower company), Bergen municipality (37,8%) plus 16 other municipalities. BKK specializes in electricity production and distribution, with end-user sales by Fjordkraft (co-owned by BKK and Skagerak Energi). BKK's annual production is around 6,6 TWh. The electricity is produced at 29 hydropower plants in Norway.
On December 4, it was announced that Enova grants 50 million NOK in funding as investment support for the shore power facility, that is estimated to cost about 120 million NOK.