Voltage conservation using advanced metering infrastructure and substation centralized voltage control

• US 8,437,883 B2
• Filed: 08/06/2012
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dominion Energy, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dominion Resources Incorporated, Virginia Electric and Power Company (Dominion Resources Incorporated)
• Inventors: Powell, Phillip W., Parker, Steven K., Bollbach, Melissa A., Pruett, Mark L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gami, Tejal
• Application Number:
  US13/567,473
• Publication Number:
  US 20130030591A1
• Time in Patent Office: 274 Days
• Field of Search: 323/257, 700/295, 700/286, 700/291, 700/292, 290/44, 702/58
• US Class Current: 700/295
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/002 Remote reading of utility meters
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/10 Regulating voltage or current G05F1/02 takes precedence; for electric railways B60M3/02
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00002 characterised by monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00016 using a wired telecommunication network or a data transmission bus
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00017 using optical fiber
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00028 involving the use of Internet protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00034 the elements or equipment being or involving an electric power substation
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/12 for adjusting voltage in ac networks by changing a characteristic of the network load
• 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: Y02E 40/70 Smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the energy generation sector
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/16 Electric power substations
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/30 State monitoring, e.g. fault, temperature monitoring, insulator monitoring, corona discharge
• 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 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/124 using wired telecommunication networks or data transmission busses

Abstract

A voltage control and conservation (VCC) system is provided, which includes three subsystems, including an energy delivery (ED) system, an energy control (EC) system and an energy regulation (ER) system. The VCC system is configured to monitor energy usage at the ED system and determine one or more energy delivery parameters at the EC system. The EC system may then provide the one or more energy delivery parameters to the ER system to adjust the energy delivered to a plurality of users for maximum energy conservation.

Claims

1. A voltage control and energy conservation system for an electric power transmission and distribution grid configured to supply electric power to a plurality of user locations, the system comprising:

a substation including a supply point configured to supply electrical power to a plurality of user locations;

a plurality of sensors, wherein each sensor is located at a respective one of a plurality of distribution locations on the distribution grid at or between the supply point and at least one of the plurality of user locations, and wherein each sensor is configured to sense a voltage of the supplied electric power at the respective distribution location and to generate measurement data based on the sensed voltage;

a voltage controller configured to receive measurement data from each sensor of a subset of the plurality of sensors, wherein the subset includes more than one and substantially fewer than all of the plurality of sensors, and to generate an energy delivery parameter based on a comparison of the measurement data received from the subset to a controller target voltage band;

a voltage adjusting device configured to adjust a voltage of the electric power supplied at the supply point based on the energy delivery parameter;

wherein at least one other sensor of the plurality of sensors that is not included in the subset is further configured to send a respective reporting signal to the voltage controller when the voltage sensed by the sensor is determined to be outside of a respective sensor target voltage band; and

wherein the voltage controller is configured to, in response to receiving the respective reporting signal, de-select a sensor from the subset and add to the subset the sensor that sent the respective reporting signal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the voltage adjusting device comprises:

a load tap change transformer that adjusts the voltage of the electric power supplied at the supply point based on a load tap change coefficient;

or

a voltage regulator that adjusts the voltage of the electric power supplied at the supply point based on the energy delivery parameter.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the voltage controller is further configured to determine an average voltage by averaging the measurement data received from the subset, and generate the energy delivery parameter based on the determined average voltage.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the voltage controller is configured to:

store historical component data that includes at least one of aggregated energy component data at a substation level, voltage component data at a substation level, and weather data;

determine energy usage at each of the plurality of sensors;

compare the historical component data to the determined energy usage; and

determine energy savings attributable to the system based on the results of the comparison of the historical component data to the determined energy usage.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein each sensor of the subset is located at a respective one of the plurality of user locations.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of sensors is located on the distribution grid between the supply point and at least one of the user locations.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the supply point is at a transformer at the substation.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises a plurality of smart meters.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor target voltage band comprises a plurality of sensor target voltage bands, each of the plurality of sensor target voltage bands corresponding to a respective sensor.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the subset includes about twenty sensors on the distribution grid.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the subset includes about ten sensors on a distribution circuit of the distribution grid.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the distribution grid comprises two distribution circuits providing electric power to about 6400 user locations.

5. A method for controlling electrical power supplied to a plurality of distribution locations located at or between a supply point and at least one user location, each of the plurality of distribution locations including at least one sensor configured to sense a voltage of the supplied electric power at the respective distribution location and generate measurement data based on the sensed voltage, the method comprising:

receiving measurement data from a subset of the plurality of sensors, wherein the subset includes more than one but substantially fewer than all of the plurality of sensors;

adjusting a voltage at the supply point based on a comparison of the measurement data received from the subset to at least one controller target voltage band;

receiving a reporting signal indicating that a voltage that is sensed by another sensor that is not part of the subset is outside of a respective sensor target component band; and

in response to receiving the reporting signal, de-selecting a sensor from the subset and adding the other sensor to the subset.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the act of adjusting a voltage at the supply point further comprises determining an average voltage by averaging the data received from the subset and generating the energy delivery parameter based on the determined average voltage.

15. A controller for an energy conservation system for an electric power transmission and distribution grid configured to supply electric power from a supply point to a plurality of user locations, the controller comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive measurement data that is based on a measured component of electric power from each sensor of a subset of a plurality of sensors, wherein the plurality of sensors are located at respective distribution locations on the distribution grid at or between the supply point and at least one of the plurality of user locations, and wherein the subset includes more than one and substantially fewer than all of the plurality of sensors;

generate an energy delivery parameter based on a comparison of a controller target band to the measurement data received from the sensors in the subset; and

provide the energy delivery parameter to an adjusting device configured to adjust the electric power supplied at the supply point based on the energy delivery parameter; and

wherein the controller is configured to add to the subset at least one other sensor of the plurality of sensors in response to receiving a signal indicating that the measured component of electric power sensed by the at least one other sensor is outside of a sensor target component band.

16. The controller of claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to de-select at least one of the sensors in the subset when adding the at least one other sensor to the subset.

17. The controller of claim 16, wherein the controller is configured to maintain a set number of sensors in the subset.

18. The controller of claim 17, wherein the set number of sensors is approximately twenty.

19. The controller of claim 15, wherein the measured component of electric power comprises at least one of:

a voltage;

a current; and

a phase.

20. The controller of claim 15, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises a plurality of smart meters.