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Shore power for cruise ships coming to San Diego

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Work crews at the Port of San Diego have begun to install equipment to allow docked cruise ships to plug into electrical power from the shore.

The project will mean cruise ships won’t need to run their diesel engines to power the ships while docked at the port, reducing the amount of air pollution generated along the shore.

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The $7-million project should be completed by December but will allow only one cruise ship at a time to plug into the power system, according to port officials. The port serves between 150 and 200 cruise ships per year. Port officials hope to expand the system to power two ships at a time by 2017.

The project, partly funded with a $2.4-million grant from the San Diego Air Pollution Control District, is required under a state law that seeks to cut port emissions by 2014.

Similar projects have been completed at cruise ship ports in Juneau, Alaska; Seattle; and Vancouver, Canada.

-- Hugo Martin

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