The German National Metrology Institute (PTB) has granted Seijsener the “Baumusterprüfbescheinigung” (type examination certificate) for Seijsener's shore power cabinets.
This makes the Dutch company the first manufacturer of shore power for ships in Europe to be awarded this ‘Eichrecht’ certificate. In cooperation with partner Involtum, both hardware and software have been developed in such a way that Seijsener guarantees its customers a fair, transparent and traceable transaction.
So what does this mean?
In the Netherlands, every owner of an electric car will undoubtedly recognize the following scenario. Your battery is in urgent need of recharging and you look for the nearest public charging point. Eventually, you connect the car and start charging with a charging card. At the end of the month, you receive an invoice stating how much power and at what price per kWh you have consumed at the charging point in question. In Germany, however, this works differently. There, information collected during a charging session must be very detailed and transparent to the user. This means that the meter must meet quite a few requirements.
Is the meter reading accurate, are the meter readings safely read and transferred and is the bill the user receives from a power supply correct? In Germany, power facilities such as car charging points and shore power cabinets must be set up in such a way that the user can be sure that these 3 points are arranged perfectly. As such, facilities for E-mobility may only be installed there if they fully comply with the strict German calibration law. For the charging of electric cars, a number of parties are already able to offer calibration-compliant charging in Germany. For shore power cabinets, on the other hand, no calibration-compliant facilities were yet available, partly because a number of additional requirements are imposed on shore power facilities compared to the car charging infrastructure.
First shore power facilities in North Rhine Westphalia
Bas Durieux, director of Seijsener: “This is an important step to further strengthen our position in the German market for shore power facilities. Currently, following an awarded tender, the Seijsener - Involtum consortium is installing more than 120 shore power facilities along the canals and rivers in North Rhine Westphalia. The cabinets are the first in Europe to comply with German calibration law. This underlines our dedication and drive to serve markets across Europe while respecting local regulations”.
Shore power cabinets that comply with the strict German calibration law can now be supplied for the European market as well. This comes at a particularly good time, as some governments have recently indicated that they intends to allocate budget to combat the nitrogen crisis. Part of this is intended for additional measures such as shore power facilities for shipping. As a result, the Seijsener Involtum combination is currently the only party in Europe that is in the unique position to provide users of shore power facilities the complete certainty that what is charged to the user is actually correct. If desired, the technology can also be applied in other products such as car charging stations, power facilities for marinas as well as market power.
