Project

The project originates from viewing the Port of Aalborg (PoA) as an infrastructure hub. This perspective is inspired by dialogues with the PoA and existing literature that discusses ports as complex organizations influenced by economic, cultural, political, local community, geographical, administrative, and technological factors.

This view aligns with the aggregated level of the project, where our ambition is to understand what does it mean to be a sustainable infrastructure hub and focus on the PoA not merely as an individual entity but as an ecosystem consisting of multiple internal and external actors and systemic linkages between them. The purpose of the project is to uncover:
- What does being a sustainable infrastructure hub entail, and what are its most relevant sustainability performance assessment indicators?
- How can the PoA, as an infrastructure hub, improve its sustainability performance across the identified sustainability performance indicators?

The logic behind these two questions is predicated on the notion that if green transition performance cannot be measured, it becomes impossible to discuss the strategies and practices that make the complex hub constellation of the PoA greener and more sustainable.

Project Flow
Phase 1 (Q4 2024 - Q1 2025): State of the Art, Literature Insights and their Validation
Terminological and definitional clarity as well as an analytical framework for the key parameters and constructs of the project
Phase 2 (Q2 2025 - Q4 2025): Empirical insights into the PoA and other port infrastructures in Denmark and internationally
Cases of the PoA, as well as other ports' ecosystems, will be developed with the objective to benchmark them against established regulation/guideline systems
Phase 3 (Q1 2026 – Q2 2026): Co-developing recommendations and advice for the PoA based on the best practices distilled from other ports' cases and theoretical lenses.

The development of a new control system for marine antennas can give sailors and their contacts on land less hassle with bad connections and low data speeds. A Danish patented antenna system will be improved with ideas for control and stabilization at Aalborg University. The results will put the company in Hobro in front on a developing maritime market.

Description
100 kW EXOWAVE wave energy testing in Hanstholm.

Key results
• Design, build and demonstrate an Exowave wave energy converter (WEC) block at a 14-meter water depth in the Danish North Sea in conjunction with a hydro turbine driven electrical generator connected to the grid. The power generation would be +100 kW.
• Include learnings from EUDP1: numerical model verified by tank test (AAU) and CFD analysis (Delft University), feasibility study: wind and wave plant in very large scale, WEC detailed design and engineering, FAT and demonstration at DanWEC site.
• Assess the environmental impact and improve animal life by shaping the WEC foundation for fish breeding grounds.
• Life cycle analysis and include eco-friendly materials as waste materials from wind turbine blade waste materials.
• Assess supply chain in the North Sea region with special focus in Denmark and its raw material, production facilities, knowledge provider for fulfilling the aim above LOI target and support the Danish national energy target in 2030 and 2050. And to include the results in the design phase. The overall KPI here is to lower LCOE.
• TRL improve from 6 to 7

“Green Transitions in Port of Aalborg” is a collaboration between the Port of Aalborg and Aalborg University Business School. Both organizations share from different angles—practice and research—the interest in green transitions; that is, how business operations and strategies can be designed such that they ensure an ecologically sustainable economy. As business operations vary widely, this strategic initiative comprises three main foci, looking at business operations within the port, at how the port interacts with its external environment, and at the port as one player in the broader regional environment (i.e., Greater Aalborg), always through the lens of identifying and solving problems in relation to green transitions.