Behind-the-meter branch loads for electrical vehicle charging

• US 10,618,427 B1
• Filed: 10/08/2019
• Issued: 04/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2019
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lancium LLC
• Original Assignee: Lancium LLC
• Inventors: McNamara, Michael T., Cline, Jr., Raymond E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jarrett, Ryan A
• Application Number:
  US16/596,190
• Time in Patent Office: 189 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/50 Charging stations characterised by energy-storage or power-generation means
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/53 Batteries
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/60 Monitoring or controlling charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/63 in response to network capacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/67 Controlling two or more charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/68 Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/126 the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/12 Remote or cooperative charging

Abstract

Examples relate to flexible datacenters or other power loads tolerant of intermittent operation and configured to use power received behind-the-meter. A system may include a transportation hub electrically coupled to a BTM power source via a branch line. The transportation hub may receive behind-the-meter (“BTM”) power from the BTM power source. The system may also include a datacenter control system configured to modulate power delivery to the transportation hub based on a set of monitored conditions. The set of monitored conditions may include BTM power availability at the transportation hub. In some examples, the datacenter control system is a remote master control system positioned remotely from the transportation hub.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a transportation hub electrically coupled to a BTM power source via a branch line, wherein the transportation hub includes an electrical vehicle charging station and an energy storage system, wherein the energy storage system includes one or more batteries that are configured to obtain and store behind-the-meter (“

BTM”

) power from the BTM power source; and

a datacenter control system configured to modulate power delivery to the transportation hub based on a set of monitored conditions, wherein the set of monitored conditions includes BTM power availability at the transportation hub, a quantity of energy stored at the energy storage system, and a quantity of vehicles located within a threshold distance from the electrical vehicle charging station.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the BTM power source comprises a generation station configured to generate utility-scale electrical power for supply to an electrical grid.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the transportation hub is electrically connected to a generation station at a location behind a Point of Interconnection between the generation station and an electrical grid.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the BTM power received by the transportation hub is electrical power produced by a generation station and transmitted to the transportation hub behind the generation station'"'"'s Point of Interconnection with an electrical grid.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the transportation hub is electrically connected to a generation station that is subject to metering by one or more utility-scale generation-side meter that measure power supplied from the generation station to an electrical grid, and

wherein the BTM power received by the transportation hub has not passed through the one or more utility-scale generation-side meters.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the power received by the transportation hub is received from a generation station that is subject to metering by one or more utility-scale generation-side meters, and

wherein the BTM power received by the transportation hub is not metered by the one or more utility-scale generation-side meters.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the transportation hub is electrically connected to a generation station that supplies utility-scale power to a grid,

wherein power received from the grid is subject to Transmission and/or Distribution charges, and

wherein the BTM power received by the transportation hub from the generation station is not subject to Transmission and/or Distribution charges.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of monitored conditions further comprises:

a first price associated with supplying BTM power to the transportation hub versus a second price associated with supplying power to an electrical grid.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the datacenter control system is a remote master control system positioned remotely from the transportation hub, and

wherein the remote master control system communicates with a communication interface of the transportation hub.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the transportation hub further comprises:

a power interface configured to electrically engage or disengage the transportation hub from the BTM power source,

wherein the power interface electrically engages or disengages the transportation hub from the BTM power source based on instructions from the remote master control system.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein a length of the branch line positions the transportation hub within a threshold distance of the BTM power source.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second transportation hub electrically coupled to the BTM power source, wherein the second transportation hub receives behind-the-meter (“

BTM”

) power from the BTM power source.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the second transportation hub is electrically coupled to the BTM power source via the branch line.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the datacenter control system is further configured to modulate power delivery to the transportation hub and the second transportation hub based on the set of monitored conditions, and

wherein the set of monitored conditions includes a comparison of available energy stored at the transportation hub versus available energy stored at the second transportation hub.

15. A method comprising:

monitoring, by a datacenter control system, a set of conditions, wherein the set of conditions includes behind-the-meter (“

BTM”

) power availability at a transportation hub, a quantity of energy stored at an energy system located at the transportation hub, and a quantity of vehicles located within a threshold distance from an electrical vehicle charging station located at the transportation hub, and wherein the transportation hub is electrically coupled to a BTM power source via a branchline such that one or more batteries associated with the electrical vehicle charging station are configured to obtain and store BTM power from the BTM power source; and

modulating, by the datacenter control system, power delivery to the transportation hub based on the set of monitored conditions.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the BTM power source comprises a generation station configured to generate utility-scale electrical power for supply to an electrical grid.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the transportation hub is electrically connected to a generation station at a location behind a Point of Interconnection between the generation station and an electrical grid.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the BTM power received by the transportation hub is electrical power produced by a generation station and transmitted to the transportation hub behind the generation station'"'"'s Point of Interconnection with an electrical grid.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the transportation hub is electrically connected to a generation station that is subject to metering by one or more utility-scale generation-side meter that measure power supplied from the generation station to an electrical grid,

wherein the BTM power received by the transportation hub has not passed through the one or more utility-scale generation-side meters.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein power received by the transportation hub is received from a generation station that is subject to metering by one or more utility-scale generation-side meters, and wherein the BTM power received by the transportation hub is not metered by the one or more utility-scale generation-side meters.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the transportation hub is electrically connected to a generation station that supplies utility-scale power to a grid,

wherein power received from the grid is subject to Transmission and/or Distribution charges, and

wherein the BTM power received by the transportation hub from the generation station is not subject to Transmission and/or Distribution charges.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the transportation hub comprises:

an electrical vehicle charging station;

a power interface configured to electrically engage or disengage the transportation hub from the BTM power source; and

an energy storage having one or more batteries; and

wherein monitoring the set of conditions comprises;

monitoring a quantity of energy stored in the energy storage.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein monitoring the quantity of energy stored in the energy storage comprises:

determining that the quantity of energy stored in the energy storage is below a threshold quantity;

determining that BTM power is available for delivery to the transportation hub; and

wherein modulating, by the datacenter control system, power delivery to the transportation hub based on the set of monitored conditions comprises;

causing the power interface to electrically engage the transportation hub to the BTM power source to enable power delivery to the energy storage based on determining that the quantity of energy stored in the energy storage is below the threshold quantity and determining that BTM power is available for delivery to the transportation hub.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein monitoring the quantity of energy stored in the energy storage comprises:

determining that the quantity of energy stored in the energy storage is above a threshold quantity; and

wherein modulating, by the datacenter control system, power delivery to the transportation hub based on the set of monitored conditions comprises;

causing the power interface to electrically disengage the transportation hub from the BTM power source to disable power delivery to the energy storage based on determining that the quantity of energy stored in the energy storage is above the threshold quantity.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein monitoring the quantity of energy stored in the energy storage comprises:

determining that BTM power is not available for delivery to the transportation hub; and

wherein modulating, by the datacenter control system, power delivery to the transportation hub based on the set of monitored conditions comprises;

causing the power interface to electrically disengage the transportation hub from the BTM power source to disable power delivery to the energy storage based on determining that the BTM power is not available for delivery to the transportation hub.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store instructions, that when executed by a computing system, causes the computing system to perform functions comprising:

monitoring a set of conditions, wherein the set of conditions includes behind-the-meter (“

BTM”

) power availability at a transportation hub, a quantity of energy stored at an energy system located at the transportation hub, and a quantity of vehicles located within a threshold distance from an electrical vehicle charging station located at the transportation hub, and wherein the transportation hub is electrically coupled to a BTM power source via a branchline such that one or more batteries associated with the electrical vehicle charging station are configured to obtain and store BTM power from the BTM power source; and

modulating power delivery to the transportation hub based on the set of monitored conditions.