Portugal has a large energy cluster: the sea – Business Initiatives
Portugal has a decade to fulfill the three axes defined in the national strategy for the sea: creating knowledge, protecting the ocean and promoting a sustainable blue economy. Within the scope of the “Sustainable Sea” initiative, organized by Jornal de Negócios and Fórum Oceano, sponsored by the Municipality of Oeiras and with institutional support from the Office of the Secretary of State for the Sea, the conference “Energy transformation: the role blue economy strategy”, which was sponsored by EDP. At this event, the Secretary of State for the Sea, José Maria Costa, recalled the country’s objectives regarding the sustainable use of the largest natural resource available to it and its potential as an energy cluster.
The guest speakers of the webinar “Energy transition: the strategic role of the blue economy” were Andreia Ventura, manager of the ETE group, family-owned, with exclusively Portuguese capital, with 83 years of activity, which works in the maritime and port operations sector; and Rui Marcelino, CEO of the company Almadesign, which, among others, develops projects in maritime transport design. Both explain what is already being done in the energy transition in the port and maritime transport sector and what remains to be done.
The biggest gap seems to be the lack of a holistic or integrated perspective of all areas of distribution to the sea or oceans, as Rui Marcelino stressed.
Portugal is well positioned in the blue economy because of its “high availability of offshore energy resources”, highlighted the Secretary of State for the Sea at the opening of the event. A potential that, according to José Maria Costa, “has been protected on the ground with innovation projects both in the field of offshore wind energy and wave energy”.
One of the most important projects for the country is, for example, the “development of the hydrogen cluster” in the port of Sines, with a significant investment.
For the vice-president of the Municipality of Oeiras, the host municipality of the initiative, “the sea is an opportunity that opens up in the coming decades”. Francisco Rocha Gonçalves was, however, critical in his intervention: “The Portuguese sea has been totally misused in recent decades, we are experiencing a suffocating energy crisis, in terms of the resource we choose, natural gas, first with dependence on to Algeria, then to Nigeria.”
ETE group administrator
“What are we going to do in relation to the resources of the maritime subsoil? The energies that we have in our sea?”, questioned the mayor, admitting that he was being deliberately provocative.
After all, the time to navigate this valuable blue resource observing ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria is now. And that was a consensus point in the “Sustainable Sea” debate session.
Maritime transport on the right route
With in-depth knowledge of the various operational areas at sea in which the ETE group operates, manager Andreia Ventura assured that in the energy transition and blue economy “much has been done by the International Maritime Organization”. What action are you talking about? “In the shift to the use of more sustainable fuels on ships, in the choice of hydrogen as one of the solutions, electrical energy and the possibility of combined use of various energy models in maritime transport. A ship is a very expensive asset and one that it lasts for many years. There has to be the ability to prevent its adaptation so that it doesn’t become obsolete with the new requirements from an environmental point of view”.
The ETE group, spread over 40 companies, employs 1143 people in different geographies, including Belgium (port of Antwerp), Cape Verde, Colombia and Uruguay. It is with this global experience that Andreia Ventura can say that the concern with decarbonization in port operations is now “not only of concessionaires, of private companies that explore and move goods in ports, but also of port administrations, I feel that from north to south, because we are in all the ports of the continent”.
The ETE group itself is following the path of energy transition. “We made a lot of investment in adapting the cranes, the gantry cranes for everyone to start working with electric energy, the new cranes that we have purchased are already electric and there has also been a concern for the ships to connect the land, to make a direct connection”.
Even in the goods handling sector, the ecological concern is already notorious. For example, in the port of Leixões, “so that there is no dust in the city” when moving cargo. The same happens with “the containment restrictions, the watering of some goods”, exemplified the administrator of the ETE group. “There is a great awareness and change in this area that has been done quietly and is private and public initiative.”
the sea ecosystem
Rui Marcelino, CEO of the company Almadesign, recalled that the company he heads is celebrating its 25th anniversary, which is why a commemorative internal edition has been published, the first chapter of which is entitled “People, Planet and Growth”. “These are the three pillars of sustainability: social, environmental and economic.” As a company linked to innovation that develops products for the road, connectivity and aeronautics area, it is only in the last three to four years that Almadesign has had projects in the sea sector, said Rui Marcelino, to show how this natural resource has been forgotten in partnerships . “Since the beginning of the company, we’ve always tried to work in the sea area and that’s where we found the most resistance in terms of the entry of innovation, collaboration and turning to other sectors to understand where innovation can come from.”
CEO of Almadesign
A dynamic that, it supports, has been changing in recent years. Rui Marcelino, who as Almadesign’s CEO is a member of Fundação Oceano, defends that the “sea develops with the rest of the ecosystem” and the connection between the different ‘clusters’ is fundamental: the sea with the aeronautics, the space and the defense, the railway. “Working in the design area, we work like the egg to the omelette, we make the glue. The design creates a vision that lets us know where we are going.”
Regarding energy storage and propulsion, Almadesign’s CEO understands that one cannot think of a single energy source for the future because there are several solutions and the choices depend on the vessels and the type of trips, short, medium or long haul. “We are going to have a perspective of alternative solutions. For example, hydrogen can be used as fuel and as an electric power generator.”
“I would like Portugal to look at this not from a purely energetic or logistical perspective, but to encompass everything that the economy of the sea can bring. Why not make wind energy or sea wave energy closer to the maritime routes that we have to the coast and why not associating the presence of offshore platforms with aquaculture resources, sea research, the preservation of marine resources instead of changing individual things? .
The first electric ferry on the Iberian Peninsula The ETE group and Almadesign are working together on a project for which the company led by Andreia Ventura won an international tender launched by the City Council of Aveiro: the construction of a battery-powered electric ferry for crossing São Jacinto, in Aveiro, the first of its kind in the Iberian Peninsula. “We decided to join another set of Portuguese companies because the ferry had to be good, beautiful and functional”, said Andreia Ventura. Vera Navis, a nautical architecture office, designed the ferry, and two other companies were responsible for the design and architecture, Almadesign and Costa Lima, respectively, said the administrator. “It is already at the end of construction, it will start sailing in the first quarter of next year.” The capacity is for more than 200 passengers, it makes a short connection that avoids the greater distance of this route by land and in the summer it is also expected to join because of tourism.