METHODS AND SYSTEM TO MANAGE VARIABILITY IN PRODUCTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY

• US 20090216387A1
• Filed: 02/24/2009
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Billian Energy, LLC
• Original Assignee: Open Secure Energy Control Systems LLC
• Inventors: Klein, Stanley
• Granted Patent: US 8,731,732 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/296
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2300/20 The dispersed energy generation being of renewable origin
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2300/24 of photovoltaic origin
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2300/28 The renewable source being wind energy wind motors F03D
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2300/40 wherein a plurality of decentralised, dispersed or local energy generation technologies are operated simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/58 The condition being electrical
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/004 Generation forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future energy generation
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/144 Demand-response operation of the power transmission or distribution network
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/381 Dispersed generators
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/46 Controlling of the sharing of output between the generators, converters, or transformers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/56 Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/76 Power conversion electric or electronic aspects
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving

Abstract

Methods and systems to control loads coupled to an electric energy or power grid within corresponding ranges of load values in response to one or more factors, such as to manage variability in production of renewable energy. Loads may be controlled in response to an indication of balance between available power and loads and/or in response to new loads and/or grid disconnections, and may be controlled repeatedly over time to adjust a sum load in response to changes in one or more of balance between available power and loads, new loads, and grid disconnections. A load may be repeatedly adjusted over time to provide an electrical power requirement within a time frame while accommodating at least a portion of variations in the balance between available electric power and load.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, within a computer system, indications of a balance in an electric grid between available electric power and load;

determining, within the computer system, load settings within variable load ranges for a plurality of controllable loads coupled to the grid to accommodate at least a portion of variations in the balance between available electric power and load; and

communicating the load settings from the computer system to a plurality of load controllers configured to control the controllable loads.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the electric power grid includes one or more renewable electrical power sources coupled thereto.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the indications of the balance include one or more of:

an indication of at least a portion of available electric power;

an indication of at least a portion of the load;

an indication of a system frequency;

an indication of an effect of generation or load changes on the change in system frequency;

an indication of an allocated portion of the balancing effort to be accommodated;

an indication of an allocated amount of controllable load to be changed;

an indication of an allocated amount of generation, the changes in which are to be balanced by changing the controllable loads;

an indication of a subset of the available generation, the changes in which are to be balanced at least in part by changing the controllable loads; and

an indication of a subset of the load, the changes in which are to be balanced at least in part by changing the controllable loads.

4. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving load parameters corresponding to a plurality of the controllable loads at the computer system;

wherein the determining the load settings includes determining the load settings in accordance with the received load parameters.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the receiving the load parameters includes receiving minimum and maximum load values corresponding to a controllable load; and

the determining the load settings includes determining the corresponding controllable load setting as one or more of a set point within the minimum and maximum load values, a fraction of the range between the minimum and maximum load values, a percentage of the range between the minimum and maximum load values, and a plurality of parameters that in combination determine both the value of the load and the rate of task performance.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the receiving the load parameters includes receiving a time parameter corresponding to a controllable load; and

the determining the load settings includes repeatedly adjusting the corresponding load setting within a corresponding variable load range to meet an energy parameter of the controllable load in accordance with the time parameter while contributing to the balance between available electric power and loads on the grid.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the receiving the load parameters includes receiving minimum and maximum capacity values, a current state of a task, and a time parameter corresponding to a controllable load; and

the determining the load setting includes determining a minimum and maximum load value from one or more of the minimum and maximum capacity values, the current state of the task, and the time parameter, and determining a corresponding load setting as a set point within the minimum and maximum load values.

8. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving product identification information corresponding to a controllable load at the computer system from a corresponding load controller; and

retrieving one or more load parameters corresponding to the product identification information from one or more databases;

wherein the determining the load settings includes determining the corresponding load setting in accordance with the retrieved load parameters.

9. The method of claim 1, further including receiving one or more load parameters from the load controllers, including one or more of:

polling one or more of the load controllers from the computer system and receiving one or more updated load parameters at the computer system in response to the polling;

receiving one or more load parameters by communications initiated at one or more load controllers at the time their loads are initially connected to the grid;

receiving one or more load parameters by communications initiated at one or more load controllers as determined by the load controllers based on changes in values of one or more of the load parameters; and

receiving one or more load parameters by communications initiated at one or more load controllers based on one or more reporting intervals jointly determined by communication between the computer system and the load controllers, where each reporting interval includes one or more of a deterministic and a random time interval;

wherein the determining the load settings includes determining load settings in response to the received load parameters.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein the determining the controllable load settings includes determining the controllable load settings to accommodate variations in balance between the available renewable electric power and the load provided by the controllable loads and variations due to other factors.

11. The method of claim 1, further including:

determining, in the computer system, a grid load adjustment value to accommodate all or part of the variation in balance between the available electric power and the load;

wherein the determining the load settings includes determining the controllable load settings to correspond to the grid load adjustment value.

12. The method of claim 11, further including:

determining, in the computer system, a variation in the grid load due to one or more of controllable load grid disconnections and new controllable loads;

wherein the determining the grid load adjustment value includes determining the grid load adjustment value to accommodate at least a portion of the variation in the balance between available electric power and the variation in the grid load.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the variation in the grid load includes one or more of:

receiving indications of controllable load grid disconnections at the computer system;

estimating controllable load grid disconnections in the computer system; and

estimating undiscovered controllable grid loads in the computer system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the estimating grid disconnections includes one or more of:

determining a load disconnect in response to a non-responsive polling of a load; and

determining a load disconnect in response to non-receipt of a report due from a load controller.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the receiving, the determining, and the communicating are performed at one or more time horizons.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the determining and the communicating are performed at a first interval for a first subset of the controllable loads, and at one or more subsequent intervals for one or more subsequent subsets of controllable loads.

17. The method of claim 1, further including communicating with at least a portion of the load controllers using a layered network communications protocol.

18. The method of claim 1, further including communicating with at least a portion of the load controllers using an internet protocol and a web service.

19. The method of claim 1, further including computer modeling the controllable loads, including representing the controllable loads as data objects having data fields corresponding to one or more of,

grid connection status,

ability to vary load,

task performance setpoint,

measured task performance value,

minimum task performance rate,

maximum task performance rate,

load at maximum task performance rate,

load at minimum task performance rate,

a relationship between task performance rate and load, expressed as one or more of a mathematical function, an array of points, and a collection of parameters, to describe a function,

time remaining to task completion, and

target time of task completion.

20. A computer program product including a computer readable media having computer program logic stored therein, the computer program logic including:

grid communication logic to cause a processor to receive indications of balance between available electrical power and load corresponding to one or more renewable electrical power sources;

load control logic to cause the processor to determine controllable load settings for a plurality of controllable loads coupled to the grid to accommodate variations in the balance between available electrical power and load; and

load communication logic to cause the processor to communicate the controllable load settings to a plurality of load controllers configured to control the corresponding controllable loads.

21. A system, comprising:

a load control system configured to receive indications of balance between available electrical power and load corresponding to an electric power grid having one or more renewable electric power sources coupled thereto, to determine load settings for a plurality of controllable loads coupled to the grid to accommodate variations in the balance between available electrical power and load, and to communicate the controllable load settings to a plurality of load controllers configured to control the controllable loads; and

a load control network to provide computer readable communications between the load control system and the plurality of load controllers.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the load control network includes one or more of:

a wireline connection to one or more of a load and a load controller;

a wireless transceiver to wirelessly communicate between the load control network and one or more of a load and a load controller;

a connection device including a wireline connection to the load controller network and a connector to connect to one or more of a controllable load and a load controller;

a connection device including a wireless transceiver to wirelessly communicate with the load controller network, and a connector to connect to one or more of a load and a load controller;

a connection device including a wireline connection to the load controller network and a wireless transceiver to wirelessly communicate with one or more of a load and a load controller; and

a connection device including a wireless transceiver to wirelessly communicate with the load controller network and with one or more of a load and a load controller.

23. A method, comprising:

establishing computer readable communications with a load control system from a load controller associated with a controllable load;

communicating one or more load parameters to the load control system from the load controller;

receiving a load setting at the load controller from the load control system;

adjusting a load value of the controllable load, within a load range of the controllable load, under control of the load controller and in accordance with the load parameter;

communicating one or more updated load parameters to the load control system from the load controller;

receiving an updated load setting at the load controller from the load control system in response to the one or more updated load parameters; and

controlling the controllable load in accordance with the one or more updated load parameters, under control of the load controller.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the communicating the load parameter includes:

initiating communication with the load control system upon a grid connection of the controllable load.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the initiating communication includes:

initiating the communication under control of plug and play component discovery logic.

26. The method of claim 23, further including:

configuring one or more load parameters at the load controller in response to user input.

27. A computer program product including a computer readable media having computer program logic stored therein, the computer program logic including:

communication logic to cause a processor to establish communications with a load control system, to communicate one or more load parameters corresponding to a controllable load to the load control system, to communicated updated load parameters to the load control system, and to receive load setting from the load control system; and

load control logic to cause the processor to adjust a load value of the controllable load, within a load range of the controllable load, in accordance with the load settings.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the communication logic includes logic to cause the processor to send task state information to the load control system.