Hybrid Maritime Microgrids: A Quest for Future Onboard Integrated Marine Power Systems

The following is a comprehensive analysis which details potential ways for the maritime industry to begin to phase out AC power generation and distribution on new vessels over a short period of time. Therefore, the vessels of the future should consider transitioning into DC power generation and distribution. During the transition from AC shipboard systems to DC shipboard systems, there will be a time during which the vessels will be run by "hybrid" shipboard power systems, which utilize a mixture of AC and DC power. These systems are known as integrated marine power systems (IMPS) or hybrid maritime microgrid architectures, since they represent a distribution system or a part thereof. This study presents a state of the art of maritime systems, emphasizing on the design aspects of hybrid maritime microgrids, summarizing the advantages, disadvantages, and the challenges that planners may face when it comes to the vessels of the future. This study also reviews remedies that have been recently proposed in the literature to overcome such challenges. In addition, this work reports on the problem of service restoration of shipboard power systems and introduces directions on how to enhance the survivability of maritime power systems using techniques based on distribution system reconfiguration.