Belgium – Envision Digital’s businesses in the Netherlands and France will work with the Port of Antwerp to develop green port solutions to minimize greenhouse emissions (GHG) at ports, among other things.
The collaboration named: ‘Portable Innovation Open Network for Efficiency and Emissions Reduction Solutions (PIONEERS)’ represents leading ports, terminal and transport operators, forwarders, knowledge institutes, technology developers, innovators, and public entities.
PIONEERS project
PIONEERS is an ambitious initiative that will reinvent all areas of port operations, including terminal operations, concession agreements, transportation, connections, fuels, and models for cooperation and energy generation, storage, and consumption. Renewable energy generation and deployment of electric, hydrogen, and methanol cars are among the initiatives, as are retrofitting building and heating networks for energy efficiency, implementing circular economy concepts in infrastructure works, automation, and the deployment of digital platforms to promote modal shift and ensure optimized vehicle, vessel, and container movements.
Real-life Green Port
The Port of Antwerp will serve as a lighthouse port, hosting the majority of demonstrators and displaying a real-life Green Port. The project will be funded with a €25 million grant from the European Horizon 2020 program and will run for five years, beginning at the end of 2021. As fellows, the ports of Barcelona, Constanta, and Venlo will take an active part in maximizing the transferability of the solutions and are committed to implementing the project’s best practices.
Using Envision Digital’s technology
This cooperation will use Envision Digital’s EnOSTM AIoT technology to create a Port Digital Twin, which will model, simulate, optimize, and monitor port processes such as logistics, maintenance, traffic, and energy consumption. The Digital Twin, which will use AI and IoT, will connect with existing PORTable developments at the Port of Antwerp, with a focus on CO2 emissions, portal logistic multi-modal asset flows, and portal people flow.
Envision Digital will also install a full intelligent Energy Management System (iEMS) including monitoring and optimization for the port’s Europort terminal. In order to optimize EV charging, maximize green energy self-consumption, and decarbonize, the AIoT software will optimize and control smart charging of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in conjunction with local grid metering and installed wind turbines. Envision Digital’s AI-based forecasting skills will also be used to forecast electricity demand and supply as part of the overall electric system optimization.
