A Comprehensive Techno-economic Solution for Demand Control in Ports: Energy Storage Systems Integration

Journal article, 2022

The specific types of loads such as cranes, in particular, ship to shore (STS), rubber tyred gantry (RTG), rail mounted gantry (RMG) and cold ironing system in the ports present a distinctive load profile, due to their sudden peak load demand. To deal with the problem and avoid extra costs, it is possible to apply a delay time management to cranes operation and/or to implement energy storage systems (ESSs) to take benefit of regenerative energy. At this aim, the load profile characteristics require both energy storage with high power and energy densities and fast response time. Peak shaving can optimize the load demand and facilitate the participation of small power generation units based on renewable energy resources. In this regard, many approaches are introduced such as energy management strategies, modern technologies, and installing high-tech devices such as battery energy storage (BES), ultracapacitors (UCs), and flywheel energy storage (FES) acting as ESS. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to deal with an investigation for an integrated vision and a combination of ESSs application in the ports loads. Since the ports cannot persist to have independent and uncontrolled power systems, hence, the paper proposes the organization of their global design in a microgrid approach and the coordinated management for all the services such as cranes, reefers, col ironing, trucks, offices to increase the operation and energy performance. The statistical results show that the integration of ESSs can provide peak shaving, energy saving, and cost reduction in ports.