Performance Investigation of an Optimal Control Strategy for Zero-Emission Operations of Shipboard Microgrids

This work introduces an efficient power management approach for shipboard microgrids that integrates diesel generators, a fuel cell, and battery energy storage system. This strategy addresses both unit commitment and power dispatch, considering the zero-emission capability of the ship, as well as optimizing the ship’s speed. The optimization is done through mixed integer linear programming with the objective of minimizing the operational cost of all the power resources. Evaluations are conducted on a notional all-electric ship, with electrical load simulated using a Markov chain based on actual measurement data. The findings underscore the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in optimizing fuel consumption while ensuring protection against blackout occurrences.