Systems and Methods for Determining and Utilizing Customer Energy Profiles for Load Control for Individual Structures, Devices, and Aggregation of Same

• US 20150303691A1
• Filed: 07/02/2015
• Published: 10/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Causam Enterprises, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Causam Energy, Inc.
• Inventors: Forbes, Joseph W. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,899,836 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/003 Load forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future load demand
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/14 by switching loads on to, or off from, network, e.g. progressively balanced loading
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/00 Management or operation of end-user stationary applications or the last stages of power distribution; Controlling, monitoring or operating thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

A system and method for creating and making use of customer profiles, including energy consumption patterns. Devices within a service point, using the active load director, may be subject to control events, often based on customer preferences. These control events cause the service point to use less power. Data associated with these control events, as well as related environment data, are used to create an energy consumption profile for each service point. This can be used by the utility to determine which service points are the best targets for energy consumption. In addition, an intelligent load rotation algorithm determines how to prevent the same service points from being picked first each time the utility wants to conserve power.

Claims

1. A method for determining and using customer energy profiles to manage electrical load control events on a communications network between a server in communication with an electric grid operator or any market participant associated with an electric grid and a client device at each of a plurality of service points, comprising the steps of:

generating at the server, a customer profile for each of a plurality of customers including at least energy consumption information for a plurality of controllable energy consuming devices at an associated service point;

storing the plurality of customer profiles in a database at the server for use in load control events;

aggregating the plurality of customer profiles into a plurality of groups based on at least one predetermined criterion;

generating at the server, a candidate list of service points for load control events based on the predetermined criterion;

sending a load control event to at least one selected service point in the candidate list of service points in response to an energy reduction request including a target energy savings received from the electric grid operator or any market participant associated with an electric grid via the communications network;

determining at the server, an energy savings for the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices resulting from the reduction in consumed power associated with the load control event at the selected service point, wherein the energy savings is determined by a measurement and a verification of the reduction in consumed power equivalent to a market value for supplied power at that time; and

determining at the server, if the resulting energy savings is at least equal to the target energy savings.

2. The method of claim 1, further including the step of the transforming the measurement and the verification of the reduction in consumed power into a power supply value (PSV) corresponding to each of the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices into an aggregate power supply value.

3. The method of claim 2, further including the step of associating the aggregate power supply value with the aggregated customer profiles.

4. The method of claim 1, further including the step of sending the load control event to at least one selected additional service point in the candidate list of service points in order to reach the target energy savings.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a individual service point selection criterion for each of a plurality of service points aggregated into each group.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising selecting the at least one service point based on the individual service point criterion.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the individual service point criterion includes any one of a sequential selection, a random selection, and a selection based on a number of previous control events sent to the at least one service point.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criterion for aggregating the plurality of customer profiles into the plurality of groups includes any one of a random selection, a drift factor, a logical geodetic point, an efficiency rating for each controllable energy consuming device at an associated service point, a customer preference, a proximity to a transmission line, a pricing signal, and a priority for an emergency situation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the reduction in consumed power associated with the load control event for a load to be controlled includes native load and/or operating reserves including regulating, spinning, and non-spinning types.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising resuming sending load control events to at least one previously selected service point until the target energy savings is reached.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer profile further includes identification of any power generating device at the associated service point that can be added to an electrical power grid in response to a load control event sent to the service point.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer profile for each of the plurality of customers further includes at least one of a customer name, a customer address, a meter identifier, and controllable device information for each of the plurality of energy consuming devices at the service point.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer profile for each of the plurality of customers further includes a plurality of variability factors resulting in a unique energy consumption pattern at the associated service point.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an energy consumption pattern for each service point that reflects an amount of energy used by each service point to maintain a normal mode of operation.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising deriving a performance curve for each service point, and determining an amount of energy reduction that can be realized from the load control event at each service point.

16. A system for determining and using customer energy profiles to manage electrical load control events on a communications network between a server in communication with an electric grid operator or any market participant associated with an electric grid and a client device at each of a plurality of service points, comprising:

a memory storing a database containing a plurality of customer profiles for load control events wherein each customer profile includes at least energy consumption information for a plurality of controllable energy consuming devices at an associated service point;

a server processor, cooperative with the memory, and configured for managing electrical load control events on the communications network to the plurality of service points by;

generating a customer profile for each of a plurality of customers;

aggregating the plurality of customer profiles into a plurality of groups based on at least one predetermined criterion;

generating a candidate list of service points for load control events based on the predetermined criterion;

sending a load control event to at least one selected service point in the candidate list of service points in response to an energy reduction request including a target energy savings received from the electric grid operator or any market participant associated with an electric grid via the communications network;

determining an energy savings for the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices resulting from the load control event at the selected service point, wherein the energy savings is determined using a measurement and a verification of the reduction in consumed power corresponding to each of the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices for providing a monetary equivalent to supply for the reduction in the consumed power;

determining if the resulting energy savings is at least equal to the target energy savings.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the system is further operable for sending the load control event to at least one selected additional service point in the candidate list of service points in order to reach the target energy savings.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the measurement and the verification is transformed into a power supply value corresponding to each of the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices. is transformed into an aggregate power supply value.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the power supply value for each of the at least one controllable energy consuming devices is transformed into an aggregate power supply value that is compared to the target energy savings for the load control event.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured for associating the aggregate power supply value with the aggregated customer profiles.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured for sending the load control event to at least one selected additional service point in the candidate list of service points in order to reach the target energy savings.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured for selecting the at least one service point based on an individual service point criterion for each of a plurality of service points aggregated into each group.