Objective As the reform in the energy sector continues to deepen, the integration of energy and transportation is the future development trend of multi-energy flows in ports. The introduction of demand response mechanisms for multi-energy flexible loads and the variable load start-stop characteristics of electrolyzers have become an inevitable trend in the development of port integrated energy systems (PIES).

Method Based on the coupling characteristics of multi-energy flows in PIES and in accordance with the energy consumption characteristics of port users, three flexible loads of electricity, heat and hydrogen were classified into shiftable loads, transferable loads and reducible loads. An operation optimization model of PIES considering the demand response of electricity, heat and hydrogen loads was established. In this model, the operating characteristics of electrolyzers were considered, and the combined operation of multi-stack electrolyzers was proposed. With economic cost as the optimization goal, Yalmip toolbox and Gurobi solver were used to solve the model. Therefore, optimal results of each energy network before and after load response were obtained.

Result The results of the case study show that the introduction of flexible loads in the port's integrated energy system has achieved peak shaving and valley filling of multi-energy loads, making the energy consumption curve more stable and reducing the total cost by 2.28%, which is beneficial to improving economic benefits. However, due to the uncertainty of wind and solar resources, flexible loads may have an uncertain impact on the operation array of electrolyzers.

Conclusion The feasibility and practicality of the port integrated energy system model established by combining flexible loads and multi-operation mode combinations of electrolyzers have been verified.