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 purpose of EFFORT (Electrification and Flexibility provision from Green PORT North) is to ensure successful development of Hirtshals Port through intelligent use of data for controlling the energy usage. Data is used for analyses of existing consumption and energy production and possible scenarios and management methods for future expansion of the port. A local data hub is built with associated IT infrastructure to obtain necessary data. Requirements for data for forecasting, optimization of green electricity consumption, flexibility, electricity grid capacity and services for electricity markets with help of intelligent management are analyzed along with possibilities for sector coupling at the port. The analyses help to assess a suitable transition for expected development at the port. A roadmap based on technical analyses is drawn up at the end of the project, giving Greenport North, Hirtshals Port and Nord Energi Net A/S guidelines for future development of necessary infrastructure and a basis for development of a symbiosis network and a local energy system at the port. The set up roadmap for sector coupling, provision of flexibility and symbiosis from industry in a local area, can be utilized at other industrial areas in cities and at ports both in Denmark and worldwide.

“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.