Multiagent-System-Based Operation Scheduling of Large Ports’ Power Systems With Emissions Limitation

Ports and its surrounding areas are major energy consumers and polluters. Optimal operation scheduling of port power demand may provide effective solutions for port efficiency improvement and the limitation of the emissions from ships at berth. Port power demand can be effectively regulated as a variety of flexible loads like shore-to-ship electric power supplies, refrigerated containers, plugged-in electric vehicles, etc., exist in large ports. The main goal of this paper is to propose an innovative multiobjective operation scheduling method for large ports that will limit in-port emissions, minimize operation cost, and support the electric network of the port area. A major operation constraint of a port demand management system is the large number of the controlled and supervised port loads. Smart grids exploiting multiagent systems have been proved very effective in such complex systems. The proposed method is applied to a realistic case study of a large port power system and evaluated by detailed simulations.