Optimal energy scheduling of a solar-based hybrid ship considering cold-ironing facilities

There are many restrictions on shipping, which reduce or prohibit the use of diesel generators for feeding the energy demand of the electric ships, especially in ports. Therefore, the use of shore power system (SPS) together with renewable energies and energy storage systems (ESSs) can lead to many environmental benefits while ships are berthing in ports. In this study, the shipboard hybrid power system (HPS) is proposed, including diesel generators, solar photovoltaic panels (PV), ESS and cold-ironing (CI) facilities for using SPS to efficiently supply the ship's electrical demand. With such HPS aboard, the solar generated power is estimated accurately based on the navigation route. By optimal energy scheduling in a real hybrid cruise ship, the use of diesel generators gets minimised, due to the utilisation of PV and ESS. In addition, using CI service instead of switching on auxiliary diesel generators in ports leads to a 3 h increase in charging and discharging times of the ESS. Furthermore, the efficient use of CI service results in less use of diesel generators even at sailing hours, reducing emissions and minimising the costs of supplying ship's energy demand. The total cost reduction of the HPS in different case studies, without the use of CI services is only 1% to 2%, while this reduction is about 6% to 7% by adding the CI facilities to the HPS. Moreover, the economic characteristics of the proposed diesel-PV-ESS-CI by adding the CI facilities to the HPS are analysed and the profitability of this HPS in reducing the daily costs with considering the share of installation costs on the target day is proved.

Automated summary

The use of a shipboard hybrid power system can reduce reliance on diesel generators by utilizing solar power and energy storage systems, with the added benefit of charging and discharging during berthing in ports. This results in decreased emissions, reduced costs, and increased profitability for the ship's energy supply.