Power Aggregation System for Distributed Electric Resources

• US 20090200988A1
• Filed: 04/22/2009
• Published: 08/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gridpoint (Twenty First Century Utilities LLC)
• Original Assignee: V2Green, Inc. (Twenty First Century Utilities LLC)
• Inventors: Bridges, Seth W., Pollack, Seth B., Kaplan, David L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,810,192 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/137
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/80 Time limits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/00 Methods of charging batteries, specially adapted for electric vehicles; Charging stations or on-board charging equipment therefor; Exchange of energy storage elements in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/51 Photovoltaic means
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/52 Wind-driven generators
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/63 in response to network capacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/64 Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 55/00 Arrangements for supplying energy stored within a vehicle to a power network, i.e. vehicle-to-grid [V2G] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/026 using a predictor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00002 characterised by monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00007 using the power network as support for the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00028 involving the use of Internet protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/008 involving trading of energy or energy transmission rights
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/322 the battery being on-board an electric or hybrid vehicle, e.g. vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G], power aggregation, use of the battery for network load balancing, coordinated or cooperative battery charging
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/38 Arrangements for parallely feeding a single network by two or more generators, converters or transformers
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007 Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/04 Regulation of charging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/34 Parallel operation in networks using both storage and other dc sources, e.g. providing buffering H02J7/14 takes precedence
• 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 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• 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 10/14 : Energy storage units
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 : Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/121 : using the power network as support for the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/10 : Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 : Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/16 : Energy services, e.g. dispersed generation or demand or load or energy savings aggregation

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for a power aggregation system. In one implementation, a method includes a establishing a communication connection with each of multiple electric resources connected to a power grid, receiving an energy generation signal from a power grid operator, and controlling a number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid as a function of the energy generation signal.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

establishing a communication connection with each of multiple electric resources connected to a power grid;

receiving an energy generation signal from a power grid operator; and

controlling a number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid as a function of the energy generation signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the energy generation signal comprises a regulation-down signal or a regulation-up signal.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

offering electric resources currently not being charged by the power grid as regulation-down capacity to the power grid operator.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

offering electric resources currently being charged by the power grid as regulation-up capacity to the power grid operator.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

charging some electric resources currently not being charged by the power grid to satisfy a capacity call from the grid operator.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

stop charging some electric resources currently being charged by the power grid to satisfy a capacity call from the grid operator.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid is controlled around a load setpoint.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid comprises increasing the number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid to increase a load on the power grid.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid comprises decreasing the number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid to decrease a load on the power grid.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the electric resources comprises an electric vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle, or a vehicle that obtains at least some power for motion from an electric storage system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the electric resources is connected to a power aggregation system.

12. A system, comprising:

a server operable to communicate with a power grid operator and with each of multiple electric resources connected to a power grid; and

a charging manager connected to the server and operable to receive an energy generation signal from the power grid operator and to control a number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid as a function of the energy generation signal.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the energy generation signal comprises a regulation-down signal or a regulation-up signal.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the charging manager increases the number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid in response to a regulation-down signal.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the charging manager decreases the number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid in response to a regulation-up signal.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid is controlled around a load setpoint.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the charging manager increases the number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid to increase a load on the power grid.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the charging manager decreases the number of the electric resources being charged by the power grid to decrease a load on the power grid.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein each of the electric resources comprises an electric vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle, or a vehicle that obtains at least some power for motion from an electric storage system.

20. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts including:

receiving an energy generation signal from a power grid operator; and

controlling a number of electric resources being charged by a power grid as a function of the energy generation signal.