Officials in San Diego plan to consider accepting a $2.4 million grant allowing the Port of San Diego to build cold ironing capabilities.
The only obstacle with the grant is that it mandates an aggressive building schedule, requiring the port be able to offer cold ironing in early 2011, said Rita Vandergaw, the port’s director of marketing.
“It’s the complexity of it all and getting it done in the timetable needed,” Vandergaw said.
The Board of Port Commissioners is scheduled to meet Oct. 7 to consider taking the grant from the state of California. The total cost of implementing cold ironing will be about $6 million, Vandergaw said.
The facility would initially be able to provide power to one ship at either the Broadway or B Street terminal. Infrastructure will be built, however, to power a second ship in the future if needed, she said.
The Carnival Elation has been homeporting year-round in San Diego since June 2007.