By Shaun Blyde, Electrical Engineering Manager, Stillstrom

This week, Stillstrom is hosting a meeting of the IEC/IEEE Joint Working Group 28 on Maritime Utility Connections at the Danish Shipping offices in Copenhagen. The meeting is a working session with experts from 20 participating countries around the table, going line by line through the standards documents, debating comments and agreeing changes. No fanfare, just the slow, careful work that turns expertise into something that the whole industry can rely on. That work will determine whether offshore electrification scales globally or stays fragmented.

We are there because Stillstrom is helping to drive the world's first international standard for high voltage offshore connections (HVOC). The sector is moving fast, and a single global standard makes it possible for vessels to connect to offshore power anywhere in the world for charging and idling.

Why this standard matters

Shore power standards for vessels at quayside have existed for years. IEC/IEEE 80005-1, which covers high voltage shore connections, has been in use globally for around a decade. Supplying power to vessels while they are idling or charging at sea, rather than in port, is still a recent development and has had no equivalent framework. An industry cannot scale when every project is bespoke and faces different requirements.

A global standard fixes that. Ship designers can build to common specifications. Operators know what to expect. The market opens to more ship types and more locations. Without it, offshore electrification stays a series of one-off projects rather than a normal part of how vessels operate.

How we got here

The process is already well underway. In December 2024, at a meeting of TC 18, the overarching IEC technical committee under which the joint working group sits, Stillstrom successfully proposed that offshore power be included within the committee's formal scope. Specifically, that meant expanding the 80005 series of standards to cover ships connecting to electric power sources offshore, from assets such as offshore wind farms and power hubs. That approval was the necessary first step.

From there, we submitted a new work item proposal for what is now tentatively designated IEC/IEEE 80005-5, covering HVOC. The proposal went to vote across member states and was approved in May 2026. The starting point for the technical content was the Whitepaper- High Voltage Offshore Connection 2026, developed through the Norwegian Electrotechnical Committee (NEK) in collaboration with Stillstrom, the Ocean Charger consortium, and Kongsberg Maritime. Using an existing, industry-tested document as the base has accelerated the process. Standards typically begin from scratch; building on the NEK findings and guidelines means a committee draft is within reach sooner.

Where things stand now

Task force meetings have already been underway to review the material, incorporate comments and refine the content. The Copenhagen meeting will determine whether the working draft is ready to issue as a formal committee draft, or needs further revision.

Once a committee draft is issued, it goes to national committees for comment and revision. When the document is mature, it moves to a committee draft for vote, followed by a final draft stage before publication.

At each step, comments are addressed and the content is refined until there is sufficient consensus to publish. After publication, the standard enters maintenance, with revisions as the technology and operational experience develop.

The low voltage equivalent, IEC/IEEE 80005-3, spent years in draft before publishing in late 2025. We are moving faster, but this is not a process that rewards shortcuts.

What we are trying to achieve

Stillstrom has a stake in the future of offshore electrification. But the goal of this standard is interoperability. Vessel owners should not be locked into a single supplier. Safety requirements should be consistent across all manufacturers. The market grows when operators have confidence in the framework, which benefits everyone involved.

Just as importantly, this is about reducing emissions. If vessels can reliably connect to offshore power for charging and idling, it cuts the need to run onboard generators. That only works at scale if the connections are standardised.

That is why we brought the NEK whitepaper to a global forum rather than keeping it proprietary. And it is why the work in Copenhagen matters.

Standards work best when the whole industry has a hand in them. The window to influence this standard is open, and we would welcome more voices from across the offshore electrification sector. Get in touch.