8th International Conference on Power Electronics - ECCE Asia
[ThH3-2]
Shore to Ship Converter System for Energy
Saving and Emission Reduction
l l
x. Yang , G. Bai , and R. Schmidhalter
1 ABB (China) Limited, 100015, Beijing, China
2
ABB Switzerland Limited, CH-5300, Turgi, Switzerland
Abstract-- In the shipping industry, people are paying
more attention on the emission issue of ships. A shore to
ship power solution is attractive for port authorities and
ship owners as it helps to reduce emissions in ports by
connecting ships to the port electricity grid and turn off
their diesel engines while at berth to improve air quality,
reduce noise and vibrations in port areas. Besides, there are
also economical benefits of shore to ship power as costs
related to fossil fuel consumption increase. Because most
ships operate with 60 Hz electricity whereas local grid in
most parts of the world is 50 Hz, shore-to-ship power is
required to transfer power between two different grid
systems. Although some old technologies such as rotating
motor/generator systems are capable to realize frequency
conversion, the static frequency converter system has
obvious advantages to serve as power supply today for its
small size, high reliability, low losses and low civil work
requirements. In this paper, PCS 6000, a medium voltage
(MV) frequency converter, is introduced. By using the
proven converter technologies, the proposed shore to ship
power solution can realize the frequency conversion
smoothly with power range from 4 MVA to 120 MVA. In
this paper, firstly, the background of shore to ship power is
introduced, including the overview of shore to ship power
related regulations and standards. The technologies of shore
to ship power, especially frequency converter system are
investigated. The components, topologies and power control
methods of the proposed MV frequency converter are
presented. Finally, the features of the proposed converter
are illustrated.
Index Terms-Converter, Emission Reduction, Power
Supply, HVSC, Shore to Ship Power, Cold Ironing, AMP
I. INTRODUCTION
Maritime transport is an important mode of transport
globally, which is responsible for the carriage of about
90% of world trade. Although shipping is a highly
efficient means of transporting from viewpoint of lower
CO2 emission, it is still responsible for around 3% of all
global CO2 emissions [1]. Besides, Ship's emissions also
contain NOx and SOx along with various diesel fine
particulate matters (PM), which impact the health of port
workers and the inhabitants of port cities. Recent study of
oceangoing ship emissions states that shipping related
PM emissions are responsible for proximately 60,000
cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths annually, with
most of those deaths occurring along the coasts of
Europe, South Asia and East Asia. Researchers estimate
that based on the growth of the shipping industry, this
annual mortality rate could increase by as much as 40%
by 2012 [2]. The international shipping and port industry
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May 30-June 3, 2011, The Shilla Jeju, Korea
2
has to take the responsibility for preventing pollution
from ships to reduce emissions while the shore to ship
power supply is identified as an effective method by
using shore generated electrical power instead of
operating the ship's on-board diesel engines.
Currently, there is no law or rule requiring ships at
port to connect to an onshore power supply, but
standardization may well lead to increased adoption of
onshore power technologies. National, city and port
authorities are also initiating regulation of emissions
generated by ships.
Early in 1970s, the International Maritime
Organization (IMO) had focused on how to reduce the
environmental impact of shipping, and finally, the
MAPOL 73178(International Convention for the
Prevention of Pollution From Ship, 1973 as modified by
the Protocol of 1978) entered in to force in October 1983.
In 1997, the MAPOL 73178 was amended by the "1997
protocol", which includes Annex VI titled "Regulations
for the prevention of Air Pollution from Ships" and sets
limits on NOx and SOx emissions from ship exhausts [3].
Annex VI does not cover the emission of greenhouse
gases from ships. In November 2003, the IMO adopted
resolution A.963 (23) for the reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions from ships [4]. Annex VI has entered into force
on 19 May 2005.
In 200 I and 2002, the EU was developing a strategy to
deal with shipping-related pollution; the potential for
onshore power supply was already being discussed.
Further, EU directive 2005/33/EG, which went into effect
January 1st, 20 I 0, prescribes that inland water way
vessels and ships at berth in community ports shall take
all necessary measures to ensure that the sulphur content
of marine fuels used doesn't exceed 0.1% by mass. It
should be highlighted that EU directive 2005/33/EG
exempted ships using shore-based electricity from a rule
requiring use of reduced sulfur-containing marine fuels
while in port [5].
Since 2005, the US, Canada, and Mexico have
examined the technical feasibility of implementing a
North American Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA)
to address serious concerns about the health effects of
PM from the shipping industry. In US, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) of the State of California
requires container ships, passenger ships and refrigerated
cargo ships to either turn off their auxiliary engines for
most of their stay in a Californian port and connect to
another power source (e.g. shore grid-based), or use other
control techniques that achieve the same emissions
reduction since January 20 I 0 [6].
978-1-61284-957-7/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE
 In a summary, the progress of legislation and time line Since then, the technology has been applied in ports of
of shore to ship power related regulations are illustrated the PacifIc coast of North America as well as in
in Fig. 1. Germany, Sweden, Finland and Holland. In 2010, port of
Gothenburg decided to install another shore substation,
which will supply vessels with an 11 kV frequency
converter system. By the end of 20 I 0, shore-to-ship
power connections have been implemented widely in
more than twenty port terminals worldwide, and on over
100 ships ranging from cruise vessels to oil tankers and
container ships. An excerption of existing shore to ship
power supplies in the world applied for commercial
vessels are listed in Table I.
TABLE 1. EXCERPTION OF EXISTING SHORE SIDE POWER SUPPLIES IN
THE WORLD ApPLIED FOR COMMERCIAL VESSELS
Port Country Connection Frequency
Fig. I. Legislative overview and time line ofshore to ship power related Voltage
regulations Port of Gothenburg Sweden 400/6.6kV 11 OkV 50Hz
The IEEE, ISO and IEC also have taken steps to Port ofStockholm Sweden 400V/690V 50Hz
develop standards for connecting large commercial ships. Port ofHelsingborg Sweden 400V/440V 50Hz
Port of Pitea Sweden 6kV 50Hz
IEEE developed the fIrst uniform standard for connecting
Port ofAntwerp Belgium 6.6kV 50Hz/60Hz
commercial ships to shore power, including the shore Port of Zeebrugge Belgium 6.6kV 50Hz
power supply, shore connection boxes, cable connections, Port of Lubeck Germany 6kV 50Hz
ship incoming panel, and control systems. The scope of Por of Kotka Finland 6.6kV 50Hz
the standard covers system components necessary for Port ofOulu Finland 6.6kV 50Hz
Port of Kemi Finland 6.6kV 50Hz
connecting large commercial ships including the shore
Port of Los Angeles USA 440V/6.6kV 60Hz
power supply, shore connection boxes, cable connections, Port of Long Beach USA 6.6kV 60Hz
ship incoming shore power panel and control system [7]. Pot ofSeattle USA 6.6kV/llkV 60Hz
IEC TC 18 circulated a draft copy for comment in Port of Pittsburg USA 440V 60Hz
October 2006 and intended to include the standard in a Port of Juneau USA 6.6/llkV 60Hz

revision to the consolidated edition of the IEC 60092
series, Part 510. In 2006, ISO organized working group to
develop an ISO standard. Three major organizations-the
IEC, IEEE and ISO - have jointly published a draft
standard of ISO/IEC/IEEE DIS 80005-1 for shore to ship
connections. With that standard in place, port operators
and ship owners alike will have a far greater level of
confidence in making investments in shore to ship power
supplies.
In this paper, after the introduction of legislation and
standards concerning shore to ship power supply, the
technologies of shore to ship power supply system, in
particular static frequency converter system, will be
investigated; Section III proposes a 3- level four-quadrant
back to back converter technology based MV converter
system for shore to ship power supply application, the
components, topology and power control method are
introduced. In section IV, the features of the proposed
converter scheme are illustrated and testing results are
presented.
II. SHORE TO SHIP POWER TECHNO LOGIES
The shore to ship power has been known by a variety
of names: Alternative Maritime Power (AMP), Cold
Ironing, Shoreside Electricity and Onshore Power
Supply. The IEC/ISO/IEEE standard in preparation uses
the term High Voltage Shore Connection System (HVSC)
which as the term suggests addresses the connection
between ship and shore and the procedures for safe
operation [8].
The world's fIrst commercial shore to ship power
system was installed at the port of Gothenburg in 2000.
Shore based power infrastructure from the perspective
of the port or terminal operator can be broken down into
several basic elements [6]:
I) A transformer for each ship's power supply;
2) Switchgear equipment such as breaker and
disconnector for each ship's power supply;
3) An automated earthing switch for each ship's
power supply;
4) A frequency converter, if power frequency needs
to be stepped down from 50Hz to 60Hz or vice
versa;
5) Communications equipment to link the ship and
shore;
6) Protection relays in order to assure safety for
cable-handlers.
For ship side, it also needs an additional electrical
switchboard for cable connection to the berth. Besides,
synchronization of the two power sources and load
transfer are controlled by onboard equipment.
In this paper, the shore based frequency converter will be
focused while other elements will not be discussed
though they are also very important in the shore to ship
infrastructure, such as grounding [9, 10], protection [11]
and cable management etc.
A. Advantages ofFrequency Converters
The reason of employing a frequency converter for
shore to ship power supply is that most ships operate with
60 Hz electricity [12] whereas local grid in most parts of
the world is 50 Hz, as shown in Fig. 2.
In the early stages of development of shore to ship
power supply, the frequency conversion was provided by
synchronous motor/generator system [13] applied at some

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shipyards and navy ports. However, such a rotating
system lost its market since the power electronics based
static frequency converter had shown its great
advantages. A static frequency converter can connect any
ship to any grid independent of the required frequency, as
shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 2 Grid frequencies of the world
Fig. 3 Static frequency converter for shore to ship power supply with
grid frequency independency
A typical shore to ship system with frequency
converter is shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 A typical shore to ship system
The benefits of employing a frequency converter for
shore connection also include:
v' Stabilized port grid due to voltage and frequency
control
v' Low operating costs due to high efficiency
v' Small foot print thanks to loss-reduced converter
design with high power density
v' Reduced energy costs through reactive power
compensation and high efficiency
v' Seamless integration into shore connection systems
B. Layout Configuration of Frequency Converters
Depending on the port's layout and capacity
requirements from ships, there are two mature
configuration schemes to allocate the frequency
converters [14]:
1) Frequency converter located at berth. It is a
decentralized system where a separate frequency
converter is placed on each berth and the
converters are radically fed from a common
substation.
2) Centrally placed frequency converter(s). This
scheme is based on a centrally placed installation
with matching switchgears and busbars.
A summary of advantages and disadvantages for these
two configurations are listed in Table II.
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TABLE II SUMMARY OF ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES FOR THE
DIFFERENT CONFIGURAnONS
Configs Advantages Disadvantages
I Independent service of Big footprint; large total
each berth capacities; large amount of
transformers, higher power
losses for 50Hz mode
2 Small foot print; Complex substation design,
converter is only used high reliability requirement
for 60Hz
C. Ratings ofFrequency Converter
The capacity of power supply in ports are various for
different vessels at berths from hundreds kilowatts for
container vessels to more than ten megawatts for cruise
ships. The power requirements of various vessel types
and sizes are presented below in Table III.
TABLE III POWER REQUIREMENTS AT BERTH
Vessel type Power Voltage
Container/ferry/ RoRo ships 2-1 3Mw 6.611 1 kV
Cruise ships 8-28 MW IlkV
Tank and oil/gas vessel ships 2-9MW llkV
Navy ports/ ship yards 2-16MW 6.6/1lkV
The power needed at berth has great impact on the
choice of frequency converter and consequently cost of
shore side power supply system. The frequency converter
can be either a low voltage converter or a medium
voltage (MY) converter, with appropriate step- up
transfonner for power connections to the ship
switchboard. Based on ABB's experience, for power
range between 120 kYA to 4 MYA, a low voltage
modularized converter (PCS 100, IGBT switches based)
is preferred, with rated voltage output of 480 Y. For
capacity larger than 4 MW, medium voltage, IGCT based
PCS 6000 system is recommended. By parallel operating
of PCS 6000 units, the total capacity of frequency
converter can be even up to 120 MVA.
At higher power levels, MV converters have a number
of advantages over low voltage solutions, such as lower
power losses, smaller foot print and higher reliability.
Generally speaking, the step-up transformer is needed at
the terminal of MV converter, which serves two
purposes: First, it provides galvanic separation, so that an
earth fault in the ship will not endanger the land grid or
vice-versa. Galvanic separation is a requirement to shore
based power connections. Secondly, the transfonner steps
down the voltage supply from a distribution level to
voltage levels standardized for shore-based power
connections [6]. In the following Sections, the detail
technology of ABB's MV shore to ship converter system
will be presented.
III. MV SHORE TO SHIP CONVERTER SYSTEM
The proposed MY frequency converter system
(PCS 6000 named by ABB) for shore to ship power
supply is based on 3-level four-quadrant back to back
converter technology. The converter cabinet of PCS 6000
is shown in Fig. 5.
PCS 6000 converter system can realize frequency
transition smoothly with power range from 4 MVA to
120 MVA. In addition, the frequency converter permits to
improve the power factor and stabilize the electricity grid
in the two networks. The selection of the installation
location is made easily due to the high level of reactive
power controllability.
Fig. 5 PCS 6000 converter system for shore to ship power supply
A. [GCT Power Semiconductor
The frequency converter systems utilize high
performance Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor
(lGCT) power switching devices. The IGCT has been
widely used in MV drive applications and other power
electronic systems. The IGCT represents state-of-the-art
in high-power semiconductors, and combines both the
advantages of a common GTO and the IGBT, i.e. the low
conducting losses and very fast transition respectively.
This permits a very compact and loss-reduced converter
design, as shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6 The modular medium voltage rGCT and valve assembly for the
frequency converter
B. Converter Topology
Fig. 7 shows the basic circuit diagram of the four
quadrant three-level frequency converter with a back to
back converter topology.
Fig. 7 Scheme of frequency converter for PCS6000 shore to ship power
system
For one PCS 6000 shore to ship converter, the rated
capacity may range from 2 MW to 15 MW for typical
commercial ships. The converter uses a three level IGCT
converter on both rectifier and inverter sides, with a
variable input and output voltage up to 3.7 kY.
When a ship is docked to the shore-to-ship power
system, the frequency converter transfers the energy for
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the ship (50 to 60 Hz frequency conversion). The DC link
is protected by a voltage limiter unit (VLU) for smooth
uninterrupted operation during a fault ride-through
situation on the grid. Higher voltage levels can be
realized with simple two- winding step- up transformers.
C. Power Control Method
A simplified overview of the shore to ship converter
control is shown in Fig. 8. Both active power and reactive
power of the converter can be controlled.
shore side
U1, f1
ext. se!poin!
kVA or cos(<p)
Fig. 8 Control of PCS 6000 as shore to ship power supply
If no compensation is desired, the shore side converter
will operate with a unity power factor. Otherwise,
depending on the overall system design, different control
modes are applied:
1) kVA or coscpSetpoint
The reactive power setpoint (or coscp setpoint) for the
shore side converter is originating directly from a
superordinate control system. This control mode is
typically used if the superordinate control system
coordinates reactive power flow within the local
power system.
2) Reactive Power Characteristic ofShore Side
Fig. 9A qualitative illustration of reactive power characteristic of shore
side converter
For shore side reactive power control, the reactive
power Ql setpoint is derived from a characteristic as a
function of the grid voltage Ul, as shown in Fig. 9. In
this control mode the converter supports grid voltage
control without the need to have a superordinate
control system for reactive power flow coordination.
If multiple converters are used, the reactive power
characteristic ensures an equal power distribution.
3) Active/Reactive Power Characteristic o{Ship Side
For ship side active/reactive power control under grid
connected mode, respective power-frequency
characteristic and power-voltage characteristic are
defined, as show in Fig. 10, in which P2, j2, Q2 and
U2 represent active power, frequency, reactive power
and voltage of ship side grid respectively. This type of
characteristics ensures equal load sharing in case of
 parallel connected converters. In addition it also
allows parallel operation of power generation
equipment on board of the connected vessels.
Fig. 10 Qualitative illustration of active/reactive power characteristic of
shore side converter: (a) Power-frequency characteristic; (b) Power
voltage characteristic
IV. FEATURES OF THE PROPOSED CONVERTER SCHEME
A. Containerized Solution
The PCS 6000 converter can be installed into a
standard container, which makes the converter
independent from ambient conditions, as is shown in
Fig. 1l.
Fig. II Containerized solution for installation of PCS 6000 shore to ship
power supply
a. Scalability and Expandability
Fig. 12 Options of hard paralleling of PCS 6000 converter units
The proposed converter can be hard paralleled. This
helps to reduce the number of transformer required and
easy scale up converter solutions. The rated power of the
converter is 7 MYA and can be expanded to 120 MVA by
parallel connection. The parallel schemes of PCS 6000
are shown in Fig. 12.
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B. Reactive Power Compensation
Utilities usually charge a penalty fee to customers with
power factors less than 0.95. This penalty fee may be
reduced by increasing power factor. As a benefit of
improving the power factor the utility bill gets smaller.
Furthermore an improved power factor increases the
electrical system's branch capacity. Uncorrected power
factor will cause power losses in the distribution system.
The PCS 6000 MV converters have the optional
functionality to dynamically compensate the reactive
power as a STATCOM, as shown in Fig. 13. These
features help to reduce energy cost, while stabilizing the
grid.
(a) Typical control mode of reactive power compensation
(b) Reactive power compensation function realized by PCS 6000
Fig. 1 3 STATCOM function ofpCS 6000
In steady operation the shore side rectifier can regulate
the grid voltage and reduce the voltage harmonic content
of the 5th and 7th harmonics with an active filtering
function.
C. Remote Access
The most important qualities of a power converter are
that it should be reliable and easily maintained and
serviced, even when located in a difficult area. The
PCS 6000 converter system possesses approved software
tools to enable remote service support for the converter.
In case of a problem, service personnel are able to
provide quickly remote support to local service teams.
The power converter control system AC 800 PEC
records all important signals and the status of the
converter along with a timestamp during a fault.
D. Efficiency
The comparison between a rotating frequency
converter solution and a PCS 6000 used as grid coupling
equipment has been made with respect to efficiency and
costs, based on operational data. The graph in Fig. 14
shows the efficiency of both solutions as a function of the
load. The big advantage of the static converter in the
partial load range is plain to see. Even under full load
conditions a higher efficiency is achieved. It is clear that ApPENDIX
the PCS 6000 achieves a major saving in energy costs,
Lay out of a 7 MW pes 6000
and therefore much lower life cycle costs than a rotating
solution. Weight: approx. 7.3 tons
Dimensions (HWD [m]): 2.5 x 6.3 x 1.2
Color: RAL 7035
Protection class: IP 32 .. IP 54
Corrosion protection: Powder- and/or zinc-coating
Lifting: Bottom lifting by
detachable eyebolts.

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