The Port of Bergen has been awarded NOK 50 million in grants to install shorepower dedicated to cruise ships.

The grants come from Enova, a Norwegian government agency working to improve energy efficiencies and reduce emissions, which up to this point has funded shorepower for other types vessels, but claimed that shorepower for cruise ships was too expensive and inefficient with only seasonal use.

Enova said in a prepared statement that the funding to Bergen is a result of the city and the local power utility joining forces and making a convincing argument that the port should have shorepower for cruise ships.

So far Enova has awarded more than half a billion NOK in grants for shorepower installations in Norway, financing up to 75 percent of the cost for ferries, coastal vessel traffic, fishing boats and oil rigs in port.

In Bergen, the Skolten and Bontelabo piers will have shorepower and three ships will be able to plug in simultaneously, starting in the 2020 summer season.