I spent time with port operators in Rotterdam, Hamburg, Barcelona, and Singapore this past year. All of them are dealing with the same pressure. Emissions regulations are tightening. Shore power requirements for container ships and cruise vessels are coming. Climate commitments have been made publicly. The message is clear: ports need to electrify their crane operations, and they need to do it now.
The problem is nobody did the power math before making the commitment.
One crane isn't the issue. Twelve cranes are.
An electric ship-to-shore crane needs 1 to 2 megawatts just to run. That's while it's moving containers. A busy container terminal operates 6 to 12 cranes simultaneously. If you do the basic multiplication, a mid-size terminal needs 12 to 24 megawatts available at any given moment during peak operations. That's not theoretical. That's what's required to move the containers that are stacked on the dock.
Now add in shore power for container vessels, which need 1 to 4 megawatts while docked. A large terminal might have 3 to 5 ships at berth at the same time. That's another 5 to 20 megawatts on top of the cranes.
We're talking about 17 to 44 megawatts of continuous power demand just for electrification of one terminal. That's more than the total power consumption of a small city.
The grid is already running out of capacity
Let's talk about EU ports specifically, since that's where the regulations are strictest and the timelines are shortest. European container terminals, passenger terminals, and cruise ports combined require an average of 1,327 megawatts of power. At peak times, demand hits 2,034 megawatts. That's the combined capacity of a major coal power plant, all flowing through the electrical infrastructure of ports that were built in some cases 100 years ago.
Most EU ports are already struggling to deliver enough shore power for container ships. The interconnection infrastructure simply wasn't designed for this load. Upgrading grid capacity to a port takes years of planning, environmental assessment, and construction. And by the time the upgrade is complete, you're supposed to have already added cranes to the same grid.
Port electrification reduces emissions by 60 to 80 percent. That's real. But the grid infrastructure to support it doesn't exist at most ports.
Emissions cuts are real, but they can't wait for grid upgrades
Look, I'm not going to pretend the benefits aren't there. Electric cranes cut operational emissions by 60 to 80 percent compared to diesel equipment. Fewer fumes on the dock. Less noise. Lower lifetime fuel costs. These aren't small wins. For a terminal operator trying to hit net-zero targets, crane electrification is one of the bigger levers they have.
But it only works if you can actually provide the power. And right now, most ports can't, because the grid infrastructure was never built for this scale of demand. A port operator can install electrified cranes, but if the grid connection isn't there, you're stuck running on whatever supplemental power you can cobble together. That usually means backup diesel generators, which kind of defeats the purpose of electrification in the first place.
Distributed power is the bridge
Here's what's actually happening at the forward-thinking ports. They're installing electric cranes. They're building the infrastructure. But they're also deploying supplemental, distributed power generation right on the dock to bridge the gap between what the grid can provide today and what they need to actually run the operation.
Think about it logically. The grid upgrade might take five years. The cranes need power today. Waiting isn't an option. So ports are bringing in multi-fuel generators that can run on natural gas, biogas, or hydrogen, depending on what's available locally. These units sit on the dock, in the container stack area, or in the terminal building. They don't require long-term grid interconnection studies. They deploy in days, not years. And they fill the power gap while the grid slowly catches up.
The best units can also run in parallel with whatever grid power is available, which means they're not just backup. They're supplemental. The terminal uses grid power first, and the distributed unit covers whatever additional demand is needed. It's clean, flexible, and doesn't require betting your emission reduction strategy on an interconnection queue.
This is where we built Immedia Power
I got frustrated watching port operators commit to electrification, then hit the power wall. So we built something for exactly this problem.
The GX230 is a 200 kilowatt multi-fuel generator that runs on natural gas, propane, hydrogen, or biogas. It's compact. 15 square feet of footprint. 700 kilograms. It works in parallel with the grid, so you can deploy it alongside whatever utility power you already have. And it's grid-parallel, which means the port's existing electrical systems can manage it without modifications.
Most importantly, it deploys in days. No utility approval. No interconnection queue. No wait. You install it on the dock, connect it to the load, and it starts generating power that week.
It runs at 69 decibels, which is quieter than a conversation, so it works on working docks without creating noise issues for surrounding areas. And because it's software-managed, terminal operators can monitor and control it from anywhere, across their entire operation, from a single dashboard.
A busy terminal with 12 cranes and multiple berthed ships can deploy multiple GX230 units to cover the power gap between what the grid provides and what the cranes actually need. Each unit is independent, so if one comes offline for maintenance, the rest keep running. The terminal keeps operating. The ships keep discharging. The cranes keep moving containers.
We've been working with port operators across Europe and Asia. If your terminal is stuck between the electrification commitment you made and the grid infrastructure that's years away, let's talk. This is the exact problem we built this company to solve.