Optimal power scheduling of seaport microgrids with flexible logistic loads

Seaports are progressively electrified to harness various energy resources to provide green logistic services to ships. They essentially act as multi-energy microgrids to enhance the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of the maritime industry. This trend necessitates the coordinated operation of multiple sectors in seaport microgrids, which is a challenging problem due to the complex couplings of power, thermal, and fluid flows and the heterogeneity of logistic loads. An optimal power scheduling framework for seaport microgrids is developed. Specifically, a non-linear, non-convex optimisation problem is formulated to integrate various logistic loads, including cold ironing, quay and yard cranes, and reefer areas, in an unbalanced multi-phase power distribution network connected with a thermal network. The optimisation problem is solved in a scalable decomposed manner based on iterative convex relaxation and approximation. Simulation results on a real-world port model verify the efficacy of the proposed framework, as well as the potential of the flexible logistic loads in improving port energy efficiency.