Energy infrastructure

To sustain the energy transition of the transport system, different and complex infrastructures are required; these need to be developed and scaled up in a constrained time framework. Recent European policy initiatives such as the AFIR (EU, 2023e) and the Energy Performance of Building Directive, EPBD (EU, 2024a) address this issue.

Ports

Ports are key infrastructure and are included in the EC’s trans-European transport network TEN-T policy (EC, 2023, EU, 2024e); this aims to develop a multi-modal transport network across Europe. The TEN-T network includes a comprehensive layer covering all European regions, which should be finished by 2050, and a core layer of most important connections, which should be finished by 2030 (EP, 2023).

In the context of the Fit for 55 policy package (EC, 2021b), the proposed revision of the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Directive (AFID) (EU, 2014) resulted in the new AFIR (EU, 2023e). This regulation sets binding targets for the supply of shore-side electricity at maritime and inland waterway TEN-T ports. The AFIR specifies that Member States should ensure the provision of a minimum shore-side electricity supply for seagoing container ships and seagoing passenger ships in TEN-T maritime ports. The requirement is set on the basis of port activity levels and must be met by 31 December 2029. Inland waterway ports must provide at least one shore-side electricity infrastructure at each TEN-T core inland waterway port by 31 December 2024 and at each TEN-T comprehensive inland waterway port by 31 December 2029 (EU, 2023e). Shore-side electricity, also known as on-shore power supply (OPS), avoids the use auxiliary diesel generators for operations and other services while ships are at berth, thus reducing emissions and noise. In its current implementation, OPS is not intended to address the issue of high emissions of pollutants during cold start of ship engines in ports and the subsequent impact on local air quality (Heikkilä and Jalkanen, 2023, Chu Van et al., 2019).

Figure 14 presents the most recent data on the availability of OPS in the ports of EU Member States and some neighbouring countries. The map includes both maritime and inland waterways ports. Currently 61 out of 173 of the Member States’ TEN-T core ports have OPS for a total of 407 berths and 21 out of 366 of Member States’ TEN-T comprehensive network ports are equipped with shore-side electricity, for a total of 57 berths.

Figure 14. Map of ports belonging to the core network (in dark blue) and comprehensive one (in light blue). Larger dots denote ports with OPS whereas smaller dots denote ports without OPS

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The AFIR regulation (EU, 2023e) also sets targets for the supply of liquefied methane in the TEN-T core maritime ports (i.e. excluding IWW ones). It requires Member States to ensure an ‘appropriate number of refuelling points’ for liquified methane by 31 December 2024. AFIR does not include requirements on the sustainability of the fuel provided at these refuelling points, meaning that liquified methane of fossil origin could still be used. However, the Fuel EU Maritime regulation and related provisions will apply starting from 1st January 2025, with the exception of Articles 8 (monitoring plan) and 9 (modifications to the monitoring plan) which will apply from 31 August 2024 (EU, 2023f).

This regulation aims to increase the uptake of low- and zero-carbon fuels in maritime transport, by requiring a progressive reduction in the GHG intensity of the energy used on board ships (measured in gCO₂e/MJ) above 5,000 gross tonnage calling at EU ports. GHG intensity must decrease by at least 2% by 2025 and 6% by 2030, and afterwards in 5-year steps up to 80% by 2050. Certain exemptions will be allowed until 2030. The reductions will be estimated from a reference value (91.16 gCO₂e/MJ) calculated on the basis of data reported under MRV (EU, 2023f) for 2020. Figure 15 provides the most recent information on LNG bunkering facilities in the EU-27 and some neighbouring countries (EAFO, 2023c). In the EU-27, there are 66 ports with LNG bunkering capacity of which 44 belonging to the core network and 14 to the comprehensive one.

Figure 15. Map of ports belonging to the core network (in dark blue) and not (in light blue) with LNG bunkering facilities

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Charging infrastructure

Charging infrastructure is essential for supporting the electrification of the road transport sector in Europe. The number of publicly accessible EV charging points increased from about 10,507 in 2012 to over 0.6 million in 2023, with about 613,314 charging points, as shown in Figure 16. The vast majority of these charging points are medium-speed alternating current (AC) points (between 7.4 and 22 kW). The number of fast and ultra-fast direct current (DC) chargers has also been growing rapidly in recent years with a total of about 73,800 DC charging points as of 2023. The AFID set as recommendation an average of one charging point per 10 EVs registered in the fleet of a country. In 2022, the EU fleet totalled about 3.3 million battery electric vehicles (BEV) and about 2.7 million light duty (M1 and N1 categories) plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV). On this basis, to line up with the AFID recommendation there should have been 603,291 charging points in the EU-27 compared to the 444,490 available at the time.

To further support the electrification of the road transport sector, the AFIR (EU, 2023e) sets out new targets for the deployment of EV charging infrastructure; these replace the recommendations outlined in the AFID discussed above (EU, 2014). Alongside a distance-based target along the whole TEN-T network, the new AFIR introduces a new fleet-based target whereby installed charging power capacity is linked to the composition of the fleet: 1.3 kW of charging power capacity should be available for each BEV and 0.8 kW for each PHEV.

According to the latest data reported by the EC’s European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO) (EAFO, 2024), the charging power capacity for the EU-27 was 18.0 GW which greatly exceeds the corresponding estimated target of 7.9 GW. It should be noted, however, that these figures are currently calculated using the maximum power output of all recharging points located in the Member States, as all EAFO data on recharging infrastructure are collected on a recharging point basis. This may, however, lead to an overrepresentation of the power output capacity available in Member States, since a recharging station that dynamically supplies electricity over two recharging points, with a maximum power output equal to that of the recharging station itself, would be double counted. This issue is currently being addressed and may lead to a recalculation of the AFIR progress to target (EAFO, 2024). The target in 2030, considering the fleet projected in the AFIR impact assessment (EC, 2021a) of 34.3 million BEV and 13.7 million PHEV on the road, is 55.6 GW. The AFIR also requires publicly accessible recharging pools dedicated to light-duty electric vehicles to be deployed on the TEN-T network, in each direction of travel and with a maximum distance of 60 km. Heavy-duty electric vehicles must be able to charge with a minimum output of 350 kW every 60 km along the core TEN-T network, and every 100 km along the larger TEN-T network.

In addition, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has been revised (EU, 2024a), and it also aims to strengthen the development of charging infrastructure for EVs. These include, for example, provisions on pre-cabling (to enable the installation of charging points at a later stage with minimal effort) for new and renovated buildings and stricter requirements on the number of recharging points in both residential and non-residential buildings. Moreover, recharging points will have to allow smart charging and, where appropriate, bi-directional charging, supporting vehicle-to-grid integration (EEA, 2023a).

Figure 16. Publicly accessible charging points by type of charger

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