Design, Sizing, and Energy Management of Microgrids in Harbor Areas: A Review

Abstract

Energy efficiency and low-carbon energy systems are increasingly taken into account in seaports, due to climate change challenges and the evolution of environmental regulations. Thus, technological breakthroughs must be brought to numerous systems in harbors, such as harbor cranes, seaport vehicles, or the power supply of berthed vessels. These aspects may require the establishment of a microgrid in the harbor area. Microgrids have been subjected to a wide development on the mainland and islands, mostly for domestic loads. However, these are still scarce in harbor areas. Their development in such places faces several challenges, such as high power requirements, monitoring and management of a wide range of loads, energy policy framework, etc. Moreover, the establishment of a microgrid involves a study of sizing and of energy management, to avoid prohibitive costs and to verify load requirements. This paper provides a literature survey related to the development of microgrids in seaport areas. Firstly, the main components that occur in harbor microgrids are listed, and then a review of studies dealing with sizing and energy management is proposed. Finally, from this survey, innovative concepts and barriers are listed, with an up-to-date review of microgrid development in seaports worldwide.

Environmental Assessment and Regulatory Aspects of Cold Ironing Planning for a Maritime Route in the Adriatic Sea

“…To follow the global requests in system sustainability and eco-friendliness, impressive developments are expected to be applied also on port infrastructures. Here, not only are wise energy management [39], peak-shaving solutions [40], or new port cranes supply [41] day-by-day becoming a reality, but even innovative microgrid architectures play a decisive role when the overall energy management is to be improved [42][43][44][45][46]. Nowadays, such a modernization is foreseeable in the industrial ports with real-time measurements of energy flows [47,48], as well as in the cruise ships port, in which conversely the main goal is the emissions removal during berthing [20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

A Review of the Conceptualization and Operational Management of Seaport Microgrids on the Shore and Seaside

“…In order to overcome this, alternative power sources are formed by using shipboard microgrid (SMG), where this method acts as mobile cold ironing facilities by sharing power from multiple ships in the port [16,40]. Another innovative solution with the same concept is known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and boat-to-grid (B2G) paradigms [41][42][43].…”

Optimal Design of an Isolated Hybrid Microgrid for Enhanced Deployment of Renewable Energy Sources in Saudi Arabia

“…The hybrid microgrid systems (HMGs) become essential electrification of rural areas. The hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) is investigated and proposed in many studies (e.g., [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]), which introduce all necessary information to design isolated HRES. The authors of [1] presented the design and financing of a microgrid on a small Koh Jik Island in Thailand.…”

“…The authors of [4] outlined a review of the system optimization and energy management strategies taking into account the sources of PV, wind turbine and fuel cell. In another research [5], a survey of the microgrid development in the seaport areas is outlined. Similarly, the authors of [6] presented a review of the major issues in the adoption of HRES, as well as a survey of the different renewable sources which can be integrated for both isolated and grid-connected modes.…”