Distributed energy management for ship power systems with distributed energy storage

Electric systems for naval applications create a challenge for the power system associated control. When incorporating loads with a high-power ramp rate within what is essentially an islanded microgrid, energy sources that supplement generators must be used due to the ramp rate constraints of the generators; this is where energy storages play a key role. A higher-level control layer is needed to effectively coordinate the distributed energy storage in order to ensure that the effect on the generators is minimised. The Energy Management layer is responsible for maintaining the desired state of charge for the distributed energy storage and ensuring that load demand is met while minimising ramp rate violations. In this paper, a distributed Energy Management scheme for a 4-zone ship power system is presented. Experimental results validate the proposed control technique using hardware controllers interfacing with a real-time simulator.