Robust Hierarchical Control Design for the Power Sharing in Hybrid Shipboard Microgrids

Hybrid microgrid optimization, integration, and control are becoming increasingly important. Renewable energy source integrations are being used more often in shipping ports, as well as on short-distance cruises and ferries. Several seaports presently lack cold ironing services, which are shore-based power stations that provide electricity to ships from the main utility grids. Furthermore, diesel engines and diesel generator-based shipboards must be continuously running and on-line when docking to provide additional loads of ships due to the absence of cold-ironing services at many ports. In this research, we analytically presented the robustness of our proposed hierarchical control design for the hybrid shipboard Microgrid system containing multiple DGs and renewable energy resource (RES) integrations. The performance comparison of the conventional proportional integral (PI) vs. Sliding Mode Controller (SMC)-based control design is validated with simulation tests under different static and dynamical load conditions for both AC and DC types of loads. We further considered multi-DGs and RES integrations into our system to validate our design’s robustness against noise and unwanted faulty load conditions. The complete system stability analysis and designing of the control law are performed. Mathematical derivations and simulation results prove the robustness of the proposed hierarchical control architecture and compare the performance characteristics of two secondary controllers designed using a MATLAB/Simulink environment.