Smart Reefer System: Modeling Energy Peaks of Reefers Connected at Terminals and thereby suggesting peak shaving solutions to reduce cost

The increase in population, high standard of living and rapid urbanization has led to an increasing demand for food across the globe. The global trade has made it possible to meet this demand by enabling transport of different food products from one part of the world to another. In this trade, refrigerated containers or reefers have played an increasingly important role due to their ability to maintain the quality of product throughout the journey. However, this operation of reefers requires constant supply of power throughout the supply chain. This results in energy consumption by reefers. When a large number of reefers are involved, this results in high amount of energy consumption at terminals. Also, the monthly throughput of reefers is not uniform due to the seasonality of food products. Thus, the growth of reefer trade, the seasonality of food trade and the special requirements of reefers has led to an increase in the peak power demand at terminals. Because extra charges are applied for the highest observed peak demand, it is beneficial to keep this demand as low as possible to reduce energy costs. To investigate the opportunities for container terminals to reduce their peak demand, an energy consumption model is developed after taking into consideration the modus operandi of a reefer, the different terminal operations, additional data requirements and some assumptions. The simulation model visualizes the energy consumption by reefers at container terminals over period of one year and one month. From this, the peak power is determined to be 14831 kW which is beyond the allowed threshold value of 14000 kW. Also, the total energy consumption and energy costs are 12,1 Million kWh and \u801,09 Million respectively. From this model, the problem is analyzed and solutions are proposed to reduce peak power demand. The solutions deal with changes in the operational procedures of terminal to reduce the peak power demand. Two rules of operation are tested to analyze their impact on peak demand: 1) Intermitted distribution of power among reefer racks; 2) Restriction of peak power consumption among operating reefers. In the first operation, two cases are considered. In the first case, the power is supplied in the timeslots of 15 minutes. This reduces the peak demand to 8266 kW. In the second case, the power is supplied in 5 minutes timeslots. This leads to even further reduction in peak power demand to 2763 kW. In both the cases, the total energy consumption and thereby the energy cost are also reduced. Thus, this solution results in annual savings of up to \u801 Million. However, its downside is that it leads to increase in the reefer temperature during the power off mode. This temperature increase is smaller if shorter timeslots are used. Hence, appropriate timeslots can reduce the risk of product damage in the reefers. However, in order to avoid product damage, proper precautions are required during implementation of this solution. The second operation reduces the peak power demand to 13760 kW. This results in annual savings of more than quarter Million Euros. Furthermore, it has minimal impact of food temperature due to its operation within the allowed temperature bandwidth. Hence, this solution, though less impactful, is highly reliable. Finally, the combined operations of these two solution is recommended to effectively reduce the peak power demand by reefers at terminals. This involves using the power distribution solution at less ambient temperature, during the night time and in combination with Reefer Monitoring and Control System. No restrictions are imposed on power restriction solution.Engineering and Policy AnalysisEngineering and Policy AnalysisTechnology, Policy and Managemen