Where Maritime Meets Megawatt
Join us in person for a three-day electrifying experience at WATTS UP 2026, the world’s largest maritime battery–dedicated conference. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Palma de Mallorca, this 12th edition brings together over 200 leading experts to explore the technologies shaping the future of maritime electrification in the Mediterranean and beyond.
From cutting-edge conference talks and real-world battery-powered vessel showcases to unrivalled networking opportunities, WATTS UP is the place where engineers, ship designers, system integrators, and innovators come together to rethink ship energy for a greener, smarter tomorrow.
Whether you are designing electric vessels, building battery-hybrid systems, or developing next-generation power architectures, WATTS UP 2026 is where ideas turn into impact.
Astrolkwx at WATTS UP 2026
Enabling Safe and Smart DC Microgrids Onboard Ships
Astrolkwx is proud to contribute to WATTS UP 2026 by sharing deep technical expertise on the protection of DC microgrids—a critical foundation of modern electric and hybrid vessels.
As maritime electrification accelerates, DC power systems are rapidly becoming the backbone of onboard energy architectures. While they offer superior efficiency, flexibility, and seamless integration with battery energy storage, they also introduce protection challenges that go far beyond traditional AC systems. Addressing these challenges is essential for safety, reliability, and operational continuity at sea.
Safe and Smart Protection of DC Microgrids Onboard Ships: Integrating solid-state DC grid protection with online battery health monitoring
By Peter van den Berg, Senior Technical Consultant Power Electronics, and Christoph Klie, Research and Development Engineer
As we all know, the maritime sector is rapidly adopting DC microgrids and battery-powered propulsion to increase efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability. However, these advancements introduce new challenges in protection, reliability, and battery lifecycle management. This joint presentation brings together system-level DC grid protection and advanced battery health monitoring into one integrated vision for safe and intelligent onboard power systems.
Peter van den Berg focuses on solid-state protection solutions for onboard DC grids, addressing fast and selective short-circuit and power overload protection. He explains how modern solid-state protection enables advanced DC grid architectures such as multi-bus ring systems, enhancing redundancy and operational flexibility. Special attention is given to battery string protection with latching current limiters. To complete this Peter ends his part with solutions to prevent reverse current flow during shore charging of battery-powered vessels. All to ensure safe charging and operation of electric and hybrid vessels.
Christoph Klie complements this system-level perspective with cutting-edge research into spectral impedance-based battery health monitoring up to 150 kHz in live, grid-connected environments. Unlike conventional methods that require battery disconnection, his work explores periodic, non-intrusive impedance measurements for continuous State of Health (SOH) assessment. The research progresses through three stages:
- Cell-Level SOH Determination
Frequency-dependent impedance measurements are performed on individual cells under varying load and grid conditions to correlate impedance characteristics with aging effects. - Pack-Level SOH Estimation
Building on validated cell-level results, advanced algorithms—such as characteristic signature analysis—are used to infer cell-level health from pack-level impedance measurements taken at a single measurement point during operation. - Impact of Grid Excitation on Battery Degradation
Since impedance monitoring introduces high-frequency excitation, the study evaluates whether this excitation itself contributes to additional battery wear.
If successful, this approach enables a fast, secure, and cost-effective online diagnostic method, potentially complementing or partially replacing existing offline battery diagnostics.
Together, the lecture demonstrates how combining smart DC protection topologies with intelligent battery health monitoring creates safer, more resilient, and more efficient DC microgrids for the next generation of electric and hybrid vessels.
Why You Should Attend
This session is more than a technical deep dive. It delivers:
- A system-level understanding of DC microgrid protection
- Practical strategies for safe battery integration
- Insight into non-intrusive, real-time SOH monitoring
- A forward-looking vision for next-generation electric and hybrid vessels
For shipowners, naval architects, integrators, and marine electrical engineers, this presentation offers actionable knowledge to design safer, more resilient DC power systems—while optimizing battery lifecycle performance.
Meet us at WATTS UP 2026 and discover how smart protection and intelligent diagnostics together shape the future of maritime DC microgrids.
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