Due to the increasing demand for energy conservation and the reduction of emissions, renewable energy applications for ships have attracted a great deal of attention. In this paper, a 5000-vehicle space pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) is selected as the research object. Then, on the basis of the existing power system, a unified grid-tied/stand-alone solar system is designed with a built-in battery energy storage system. The system includes a solar energy generation unit, a battery storage system, a diesel generating set, grid-tied/stand-alone controlled inverters, a battery management system (BMS) and an energy management system. According to an analysis of the experimental data, it can be concluded that the use of solar energy hybrid power, in theory, can reduce fuel consumption by 4.02% and carbon dioxide (COs) emissions by 8.55% a year. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.