EU-Wide Advantages & Strategic Opportunities for "Flexible and Mobile Solutions for On-shore Power Supply (ZEWT Partnership)"

1. Single Market Access

• Gives consortia an immediate pathway to deploy OPS solutions in the world’s largest integrated maritime market (≈450 million consumers, >1 500 EU ports).

• Accelerates market uptake by leveraging a uniform set of Fit-for-55 obligations (AFIR Art. 9; FuelEU Maritime) that apply across all 27 Member States—reducing the need for fragmented national certifications.

• Enables rapid scale-out from pilot ports to TEN-T core & comprehensive network ports, capturing a €15–18 bn OPS retrofit/green-field market forecast for 2025-2030.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration

• Mandatory multi-actor consortia allow ports, shipowners, OEMs and grid operators from different Member States to co-design interoperable solutions, validating Area A prototypes in at least two terminals in different sea-basins (e.g. Baltic + Mediterranean) or Area B prototypes at mixed anchorage sites (e.g. North Sea + Atlantic).

• Facilitates knowledge exchange on safety in explosive atmospheres (ATEX) by pairing chemical tanker hubs (e.g. Rotterdam, Hamburg) with cruise/ferry hubs (e.g. Piraeus, Barcelona) to test modularity across vessel classes.

• Strengthens EU supply chains: mobile OPS skids fabricated in one country, power-electronics sourced in another, digital twin developed by a third.

3. EU Policy Alignment

• Directly delivers on the European Green Deal, Sustainable & Smart Mobility Strategy and Zero-Emission Waterborne Transport (ZEWT) partnership KPIs (-90 % port GHG by 2050).

• Complements Digital Europe & Data Spaces by embedding secure, standardised ship-to-shore communication interfaces (ISO 19848, IEC 63110) that feed into the forthcoming European Maritime Single Window.

• Supports REPowerEU grid-flexibility goals through demonstrators of dynamic load-management between OPS, battery fast-charging and RES integration.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Standards Leadership

• Projects can shape the next iterations of IEC/IEEE 80005 (parts -3 & -4) and CENELEC standards, positioning EU industry as global rule-setter for mobile OPS and fast-charging at anchorage.

• Early compliance testing across multiple flag & port state control regimes de-risks later certification costs for shipowners.

• Contributes to a pan-European safety doctrine for earthing/ground fault monitoring—critical for oil & chemical terminals.

5. Innovation Ecosystem & Knowledge Transfer

• Access to >200 ZEWT partnership members, 50+ JRC labs, and maritime testbeds such as Living Labs in Antwerp, Turku or Nantes Saint-Nazaire.

• Synergies with EU Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) and EIT Urban Mobility nodes enable AI-driven predictive maintenance and workforce AR training modules requested in the call.

• Open-data & open-spec deliverables mandated by Horizon Europe foster rapid replication by SMEs across the EU maritime cluster.

6. Funding Synergies & Blended Finance

• Results can feed into CEF-Transport & CINEA Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Facility for large-scale roll-outs (up to 30 % CAPEX grants) once tech readiness ≥ TRL 8.

• Eligible OPS hardware can leverage EIB Green Shipping Guarantee & InvestEU debt for commercialisation; Innovation Fund (large-scale window) can co-finance high-CAPEX HV sub-stations or RES coupling.

• Alignment with national RRF programmes (e.g. Spain PERTE Naval, Germany’s "Landstrom 2.0") multiplies public support while avoiding state-aid hurdles through the EU General Block Exemption Regulation.

7. Scale-Up Potential & Long-Term Impact

• Mobile/anchorage OPS directly address ports lacking quay-side grid capacity, enabling near-term emissions cuts without waiting for heavy infrastructure upgrades—benefitting >60 % of EU small & medium ports.

• EU-wide demonstrations create a de-facto reference design that can be exported globally, enhancing European industrial competitiveness.

• Supports the creation of 20 000–25 000 high-skill jobs in power-electronics, software and maritime services by 2030 according to ZEWT roadmap forecasts.

Bottom Line: Competing nationally would produce fragmented, incompatible OPS niches. Operating under Horizon Europe unlocks the full power of the Single Market, standard-setting clout, blended EU financing and a continent-wide innovation ecosystem—dramatically increasing the probability that flexible and mobile OPS solutions become the default zero-emission technology across Europe’s entire port network by 2030, and a benchmark for the rest of the world.