Charging of recreational electric boats is becoming challenging, because of the huge amount of AC power to be transferred through the AC grid. The two main problems with the AC grid, are the voltage drop because of high charging currents through a single power line, and the therewith associated power congestion. Proposed is to replace the AC grid with a DC grid, with power congestion management. An added advantage is the sharing of solar energy, harvested at some of the boats, to be used by surrounding boats in the DC grid. Overall, this saves energy, but more important, it helps reduce the power congestion problem, as energy is more effectively distributed and spread among the DC grid. The developed power converters, required for this DC grid, are discussed in the paper. The droop control methods, to prevent power congestion in the grid are implemented in each power converter.

To avoid power congestion in a DC grid, droop control based on voltage signaling is applied for a kitchen application. Using static droop characteristics, the maximum amount of power allowed or available can be regulated. A typical design process is to first define the droop characteristics in a design tool, simulate the characteristics for varying load, and/or verify the droop characteristics in a setup. A laboratory setup is presented along with a design tool and simulation tool to define the droop characteristics for a kitchen appliance.