Making use of surplus green power
HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder, a subsidiary of the Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), is investigating how the batteries of its automated guided vehicles (AGVs) can be charged at the same time as taking advantage of any surplus green power supplies.
In order to examine this further, its joined forces with Gottwald Port Technology and Vattenfall and the universities of Oldenburg, Göttingen and Clausthal, to undertake a research project called BESIC (Battery electric heavy goods transports within the intelligent container terminal operation).
This project follows on from the award winning project undertaken by HHLA and Gottwald in 2011 which developed battery operated vehicles that are able to transport containers 24 hours a day at the terminal.
The BESIC project aims to go a step further and develop a battery management system which determines suitable charging times using an exchange of data between Vatenfall’s load forecasting systems and the management system at the terminal. It will also be looking at whether the batteries of the AGVs could also be used as a buffer for peak power.
HHLA says that if the intelligent charging strategy leads to clear savings in operational costs, it may well pave the way for the technology to be used in many related areas.
The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology is subsidising the project up until December 2015.
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