Lingling Fan
Disseminating information on electrification to achieve decarbonization is in the mission statement of IEEE Electrification Magazine. Electrification technologies are important to the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES), IEEE Industrial Applications Society (IAS), and IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS). The PES has a long history dating back to the late 19th century at the forming of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, which later merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers to become IEEE. A retrospective article by Lindsey Ingram, “GE and Westinghouse: Reflections of a Retired Electric Utility Engineer,†shows that GE and Westinghouse played a dominant role in forming the PES. IAS and PELS are Societies each with a distinct technology focus, with IAS on electric machines and PELS on power electronics. This magazine is financially sponsored by the three Societies, and the reader may find articles from active members of those three Societies covering various electrification technologies.
In the June 2019 issue of IEEE Electrification Magazine, with the theme “Electrify to Decarbonize,†six projects at the Port of Long Beach in California (“The Drive to Zero†by Heather Tomley), including zero-emission heavy-duty port vehicle evaluation and testing; electrification infrastructure design and demonstration; etc., were presented as a case study of green port technologies.
The current issue, with the theme “Sustainable Ports,†offers a more comprehensive view of port electrification with more case studies presented. This issue was championed by Prof. John Prousalidis of the National Technology University at Athens (NTUA, Greece) and Prof. Fabio D’Agostino of the University of Genova (Italy). Prof. Prousalidis and Prof. D’Agostino have served actively in many IAS and PES technical committees relevant to marine power systems and electric ships. Most recently, Prof. Prousalidis serves as the secretary of the IEEE P45.1 Working Group “Recommended Practice for Electrical Installations on Shipboard–Design†with the goal of updating IEEE Standard 45-2017 on recommendations for electrical power generation, distribution, and electric propulsion system design for use on shipboard.
The idea of an issue on sustainable ports was coined at the August 2021 IEEE Electric Ship Technologies Symposium, where green port technologies were highlights of the conference and Prof. Prousalidis gave a tutorial titled “Green Electrification of Ships and Ports.†Since then, the issue editors have invited known authors in this area and worked with the authors to present the issue to the reader. There are eight feature articles and two columns. Major milestones of sustainable ports, e.g., establishing ship-to-shore electric interconnections and charging battery-powered electric vessels, are covered in these articles. The green port initiative was pushed by the European Union, and the contributing authors are from Europe’s utility industry; manufacturers; and research institutes across Europe, e.g., Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Norway.
The editor would like to acknowledge the issue editors; the contributing authors; the magazine’s senior publications administrator, Randi E. Scholnick-Philippidis; and the production manager, Christie Inman, for their efforts in producing this issue.
Enjoy this issue. Stay healthy and safe.
L. Ingram, “GE and Westinghouse: Reflections of a retired electric utility engineer,†IEEE Power Energy Mag., vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 67–71, Nov./Dec. 2004, doi: 10.1109/MPAE.2004.1359069.
H. Tomley, “The drive to zero [Technology Leaders] ,†IEEE Electrific. Mag., vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 5–59, Jun. 2019, doi: 10.1109/MELE.2019.2906629.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MELE.2022.3232887
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