Solid-State Technologies for Flexible and Efficient Marine DC Microgrids

This paper presents flexible operating modes of marine DC microgrids and main advantages of employing energy storage systems into such DC microgrids. Scaled-down marine systems with two DC buses and integrated energy storages are considered in this paper. To verify superior features of the DC microgrids with solid-state technologies and energy storage systems, a wide range of system operating modes are experimentally demonstrated, ranging from basic to advanced operating modes: DC voltage regulation, power sharing control, soft start (smoothly charging bus potential to the nominal level), seamless transition (transiting open-bus and closed-bus operations), load leveling (flattening generator loads by energy storage systems), transient mitigation (mitigating sudden load changes by energy storage systems), and zero-emission (powering the marine networks by energy storage systems near a port). The experimental results show that DC microgrids with solid-state technologies and energy storage systems provide ship owners with the flexibility in energy management of the system, fuel savings, and environmental compliance in a port.