The role of future information in control system design for shipboard power systems

Both naval and commercial ships are incorporating new power and energy system technologies to improve fuel economy and performance while servicing high power pulsed loads. These assets can be best utilized with load demand forecasting and/or prediction, especially when considering limits on generator ramp rates, distribution lines, and energy storage capacity. Obtaining future load demand data and designing a controller to accommodate it can be challenging, but with potentially large payoff. However, this information is not useful in all cases. This paper develops a method to quantify the potential value of future information depending on the specific power system characteristics. This quantitative approach aids designers in deciding how and when to deploy future forecasting in controller design, and provides insight into the potential benefits of these more complex controllers. To quantify this trade off, two optimization-based control methods are developed. One uses only current information, while the other has an exact forecast of the future. As examples, the method is applied to a notional naval ship and drill platform service vessel with representative power and energy system architectures under indicative operational load demands.