Ports are key hubs in the maritime transport system and are pivotal to the sector's transition to fossil-freedom. As port operations and vessels shift from fossil fuels to electricity and alternative fuels, ports can evolve into energy hubs, supplying power to their internal operations (e.g., cranes, forklifts) and external users like road vehicles and ships. Ports also have potential for renewable energy production, such as offshore wind and solar power, as well as storage. 

However, insufficient data on future energy consumption and production limits ports' ability to plan infrastructure upgrades or investments in electricity production and grid connections. This pre-study aims to create a structure to assess ports' current and future energy demands and production. By identifying the necessary data for a quantitative energy model, it seeks to help ports transition into fossil-free energy hubs by addressing information gaps. 

The study focused on the Port of Landskrona, including input from its energy supplier. The developed framework evaluates five areas: port operations, surrounding transport systems, the port’s role as an energy node, additional energy activities, and the port’s future energy plans. A combined top-down and bottom-up approach tracks energy consumption from both electricity and fuel, aiding decision-making around energy production, storage, and decarbonization. 

The results show that the port has a fair overview of energy consumption of their own operations in terms of electricity and diesel for the full year (based on today’s data availability). However, for specific activities, like energy consumption for the electric conveyor belts, no such data is available today and further measurements are required for such details. Further, for the surrounding transport system (i.e., trucks visiting the port), the port is dependent on external parties to share data of their energy usage. Challenges include limited data availability on current energy consumption. The pre-study also highlights the importance of managing the timing of energy demand and offers insights into how ports can manage demand and electrification while preparing to transition to fossil-free operations in the future.