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Port of San Francisco Activates 6.6-Kilovolt Zero-Emission Tugboat and Harbor-Craft Shore-Power Berth at Pier 70
High-capacity waterfront charging vault on 20th Street supplies 100 percent hydroelectric power to hybrid-electric ship-assist tugs and silences diesel idling along the Central Waterfront.
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Maritime electrical engineers with the Port of San Francisco and grid specialists from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Hetch Hetchy Power division energized a 3-megavolt-ampere, 6.6-kilovolt commercial harbor-craft shore-power and battery-charging berth on Saturday evening at Wharf 8 of Historic Pier 70 at 420 20th Street along San Francisco's Central Waterfront. Built adjacent to the Crane Cove Park public beach and the Dogpatch residential neighborhood, the marine electrification berth allows hybrid-electric and battery-electric ship-assist tugboats, pilot vessels, and bay workboats to shut down their auxiliary diesel generators while moored between ship-escort assignments.
Under California Air Resources Board (CARB) Commercial Harbor Craft regulations, harbor tugs and excursion vessels operating in San Francisco Bay are transitioning to zero-emission hoteling and hybrid propulsion. At the Pier 70 berth, crews installed a flood-elevated stainless-steel switchgear vault, two articulated motorized cable-management davits, and IEC/IEEE 80005-3 medium-voltage and 480-volt shore-connection receptacles capable of recharging a tugboat's 1.8-megawatt-hour lithium-titanium-oxide propulsion battery bank in less than seventy-five minutes.
Eliminating round-the-clock dockside diesel auxiliary engine idling across the four-vessel Pier 70 tug fleet prevents an estimated 1,150 metric tons of carbon dioxide, 18.4 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx), and 640 pounds of diesel particulate matter each year within the Potrero Point and Dogpatch airshed. Connecting moored vessels directly to clean Hetch Hetchy municipal hydroelectric power also eliminates low-frequency engine exhaust rumble for kayak paddlers at neighboring Crane Cove Park.
The $4.4 million maritime shore-power project was funded through a CARB Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment grant and Port of San Francisco harbor revenues. Residents can review waterfront decarbonization projects on the Port of San Francisco Sustainability Portal.
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