Simplified method for the assessment of ship electric power systems operation cost reduction from energy storage and renewable energy sources integration

The extensive electrification of ship power systems has become a very appealing option for the development of more efficient and environmentally friendly ships. Renewable energy sources and energy storage systems will have a key role in such systems as they can lead to fuel consumption reduction and increase of ship efficiency. In this study, analytic formulas are obtained for the estimation of system marginal cost of a ship power system equipped with photovoltaics and energy storage system and its operation is analysed from the economical point of view. The major advantage of the proposed method is that the obtained formulas require almost zero computational capacity although they provide a qualitative view of the problem not easily attainable by other conventional methods. Hence, it could be a convenient tool for the technical-economical study of such systems. In this context, it could be exploited for the assessment of a large number of ship power system operation scenarios during ship design phase.