Systems and methods for determining and utilizing customer energy profiles for load control for individual structures, devices, and aggregation of same

• US 10,389,115 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2014
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Causam Enterprises, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Causam Energy, Inc.
• Inventors: Forbes, Jr., Joseph W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Laughlin, Nathan L
• Application Number:
  US14/568,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20150154618A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,712 Days
• 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 each of 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 electrical 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 electrical load control events based on the at least one 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;

generating a power supply value (PSV) at each of the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices of the at least one selected service point, wherein each PSV is based on a reduction in consumed power resulting from the load control event with measurement and verification, wherein the PSV provides a curtailment value as a supply presented to and accepted by a governing entity for awarding each of the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices supply equivalence, wherein the PSV is provided in units of monetary equivalent;

receiving the PSV at the server;

determining, at the server, an energy consumption pattern for each of the at least one selected service point based on the PSV;

determining, at the server, if resulting energy savings from the energy consumption pattern are at least equal to the target energy savings.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the load control event and the energy reduction request is sent via at least one of Internet Protocol, Bluetooth, HSPA, EVDO, LTE, 4G, Wi-Fi, and its derivative standards.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the load control event and the energy reduction request is sent via at least one Ethernet solution, wireless or wired.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the load control event and the energy reduction request is sent via at least one of any proprietary wireless communication protocol, such as Broadband over PowerLine, Bluetooth, and/or ZigBee.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices comprises an environmentally-dependent device, the at least one environmentally-dependent device including at least one of a thermostat, a washer, a dryer, a hot water heater, a HVAC unit, a fan, a pool pump, a pool heater, a humidifier, a sprinkler system water pump, and a smart appliance, the smart appliance including a smart thermostat operable to raise or lower a set temperature, control a HVAC unit, and/or control a fan unit.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the load control event creates an operating reserve operable for providing improved stability and/or reliability of the electric power grid, wherein the operating reserve includes at least one of a spinning reserve, a regulating reserve, and a non-spinning reserve.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the operating reserve is operable to be sold to a utility.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the PSV indicates a compensation for the reduction in consumed power resulting from the load control event, the compensation including at least one of a capacity compensation, an energy compensation, and an operating reserve compensation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the PSV is calculated at the meter or submeter or at building control system or at any device or controller that measures power within standards as supplied by the regulatory body that governs the regulation of the grid.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the selected service point and at least one of the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices automatically reduces the amount of power supplied to the at least one of the controllable energy consuming devices in response to the load control event.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the load control event and/or the energy reduction request is sent and/or received by a device that sends and/or receives IP-based messages.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of implementing a flexible load-shape program;

wherein the flexible load-shape program projects an operating reserve resulting from selective control of at least one of the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices based on known, real-time customer preferences;

wherein the operating reserve is active, real-time, verifiable, dispatchable within less than approximately 15 minutes, and measurable according to protocols and/or treaties established for the determination of carbon credits, carbon offsets, and/or renewable energy credits.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a proprietary network, wherein the proprietary network includes a network that is Internet Protocol based, real-time, temperature derived, verifiable, interactive, two-way, and/or responsive to automatic generation control commands, wherein the automatic generation control commands produce operating reserves through implementation of at least one control event.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer profile for each of the plurality of customers includes time periods during which load control events are permitted and/or time periods during which load control events are prohibited.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of customer profiles includes a service priority.

15. An apparatus for determining and using customer energy profiles to manage electrical load control events on a communications network between the apparatus and a client device at each of a plurality of service points, wherein the apparatus is operable to:

communicate with at least one of an electric grid operator and any market participant associated with an electric grid;

generate 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;

store the plurality of customer profiles in a database for use in electrical load control events;

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

generate a candidate list of service points for electrical load control events based on the at least one predetermined criterion;

send 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;

receive a power supply value (PSV) from each of the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices, wherein each PSV is based on a reduction in consumed power resulting from the load control event with measurement and verification, wherein the PSV provides a curtailment value as a supply presented to and accepted by a governing entity for awarding each of the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices supply equivalence, wherein the PSV is provided in units of monetary equivalent;

determine an energy savings for the plurality of controllable energy consuming devices resulting from the load control event at the selected service point based on the PSV; and

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

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is a server in communication with a utility and/or communicatively coupled to the utility.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is operable to communicate with the electric grid operator and/or any market participant associated with an electric grid via:

at least one of an Ethernet solution, wireless or wired;

at least one of any proprietary wireless such as Broadband over Powerline, Bluetooth, and/or ZigBee; and

/or

at least one of any controllable device that sends and/or receives an IP-based message.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is selected from the group consisting of a building control system, a thermostat, a generating unit for electric power, and an electric management system.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is operable to determine a drift associated with each of the plurality of service points, wherein the drift is an amount of time for a climate-controlled device to move from a set point temperature to an upper or lower temperature boundary defined in the customer profile, wherein the apparatus is further operable to identify at least one of the plurality of service points that has an optimum drift for power savings.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is operable to communicate a load status message to the electric grid operator and/or the any market participant associated with an electric grid;

wherein the load status message includes at least one of a real time electric power usage, an actual amount of electric power reduced, and a type of the at least one load for which electric power was reduced.

22. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of customer profiles includes a service priority.