Marine Integrated Energy Microgrids

TL;DR

This paper introduces the concept of marine integrated energy microgrids, discussing their applications, control strategies, and future challenges to support decarbonization in the marine sector.

Contribution

It extends the traditional microgrid concept to an integrated energy system specifically for marine applications, highlighting control and system integration approaches.

Findings

Extended microgrid concept for marine energy systems

Review of control and operation strategies

Discussion of challenges and future opportunities

Abstract

Marine sector decarbonization is another important battlefield for meeting the goal of climate action and ensuring the fulfillment of ambitions for a zero-emission society. Driven immediately by the policy incentives such as Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) from International Maritime Organization(IMO), carbon taxation and labeling, a series of innovations centered around marine transportation are emerging from both industry and academia. As an efficient energy system form, the microgrid is playing an increasingly important role as the system constitution form for various marine energy systems. With specific concern about multi-energy integrations, the conventional definition of the microgrid needs also to be extended for an integrated energy system. In this paper, we will first introduce the extended concept of the microgrid as an integrated energy system and its applications in the marine sector, and then present the state of the art for the control, operation, and system integration for it and its clusters. The challenges and opportunities for marine integrated energy microgrids will also be discussed to shed light on future research.