Future U.S. Navy ships will require power systems that meet more stringent agility, efficiency, scalability, controllability and resiliency requirements. Modularity and the ability to interconnect power systems having their own energy storage, generation, and loads is an enabling capability. To aid in the design of power system controls, much of what has been learned from advances in the control of networked microgrids is being applied. Developing alternative methods for controlling and analyzing these systems will provide insight into tradeoffs that can be made during the design phase. This paper considers the problem of electric ship power disturbances in response to pulsed loads, in particular, to electromagnetic launch systems. Recent literature has indicated that there exists a trade-off in information and power flow and that intelligent, coordinated control of power flow in a microgrid system (i.e. such as an electric ship) can modify energy storage hardware requirements. The control presented herein was developed to provide the necessary flexibility with little computational burden. It is described analytically and then demonstrated in simulation and hardware.
Trinklei, Eddy T.; Parker, Gordon G.; Weaver, Wayne W.; Robinett, Rush D.; Babe Gauchia, Lucia B.; Ten, Chee-Wooi T.; Bower, Ward B.; Glover, Steven F.; Bukowski, Steve B.
This report presents a scoping study for networked microgrids which are defined as "Interoperable groups of multiple Advanced Microgrids that become an integral part of the electricity grid while providing enhanced resiliency through self-healing, aggregated ancillary services, and real-time communication." They result in optimal electrical system configurations and controls whether grid-connected or in islanded modes and enable high penetrations of distributed and renewable energy resources. The vision for the purpose of this document is: "Networked microgrids seamlessly integrate with the electricity grid or other Electric Power Sources (EPS) providing cost effective, high quality, reliable, resilient, self-healing power delivery systems."