India’s first National Centre of Excellence in Green Port and Shipping (NCoEGPS), a collaboration between the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) was inaugurated by the union minister Mr Sarbananda Sonowal. The inauguration was held at the research institution’s field station in Gwal Pahari, Gurugram.
The NCoEGPS is expected to play a vital part in greening the shipping industry by steering it towards carbon neutrality and circular economy. The NCoEGPS will be involved in developing the regulatory framework and alternate technology adoption roadmap for green shipping in India.
The minister also announced that the ministry plans to launch green hybrid tugs to be used in the ports and scale it upto 50 per cent by 2030. The NCoEGPS which is housed on TERI’s campus near Gurugram will work to provide the decision makers at the national and sub-national level with methodology and framework to implement carbon neutrality measures in the shipping sector. The centre will work towards helping the sector meet the obligations under the Paris Agreement.
The national centre will act as a technological arm of MoPSW and engage with the policy and research aspects related to green shipping and work on areas of energy and emission management and sustainable maritime operations. The Memorandum of Agreement on the setting up the NCoEGPS was signed between the ministry along with the four entities under it the Deendayal Port Authority, Paradip Port Authority, VO Chidambaranar Port Authority and Cochin Shipyard Limited, and TERI in November 2022.
In the beginning, the NCoEGPS will work on 10 crucial projects, including ones on developing a regulatory framework for the usage of wind energy for marine applications, and identifying a suitable biofuel for blending with conventional marine fuels. It will also work towards identifying a fuel-cell technology for long haul shipping as well as developing a regulatory framework for the transportation of hydrogen upto 700 bar pressure. It will also prepare detailed project reports on low energy consumption port, and on an offshore platform for tapping solar energy, and the production, storage and usage of green hydrogen.
The work under NCoEGPS will be based on funding support for infrastructure development and supporting research and capacity-building by the MoPSW and entities under it for the period of five years.
