REMOTE ENERGY MANAGEMENT USING PERSISTENT SMART GRID NETWORK CONTEXT

• US 20130103221A1
• Filed: 12/11/2012
• Published: 04/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: RAMAN, Madhusudan, DUBOIS, Jean Francois, CHIPALKATTI, Renu
• Granted Patent: US 9,568,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/295
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5094 where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A device may include a memory to store control policies set for a network of smart grid. devices connected to a power grid, the control policies including an energy consumption threshold associated with the network of smart grid devices; and a processor configured to obtain network content including energy consumption data associated with the network of smart grid devices, compare the energy consumption data to the energy consumption threshold associated with the network of smart grid devices, generate a first instruction with respect to energy consumption associated with network of smart grid devices, and generate a second instruction with respect to replenishment of unforced capacity associated with the network of smart grid devices.

Claims

1. A method performed by a device, the method comprising:

setting, at the device, control policies including an energy consumption threshold associated with one or more smart grid devices of a smart grid network connected to a power grid associated with an external power source;

receiving, at the device, network content including energy consumption data associated with the one or more smart grid devices;

comparing, responsive to receiving the network content, the energy consumption data to the energy consumption threshold associated with the one or more smart grid devices;

triggering, responsive to results of the comparing indicating that the energy consumption threshold is exceeded, a first operation with respect to energy consumption associated with smart grid network; and

triggering, responsive to results of the comparing indicating that the energy consumption threshold is not exceeded, a second operation with respect to replenishment of unforced capacity associated with the smart grid network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation comprises curtailment of a consumption of energy, by the smart grid network, received via the power grid.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation comprises use of the unforced capacity associated with the one or more smart grid devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the use of the unforced capacity comprises using energy stored by the one or more smart grid devices.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the use of the unforced capacity comprises using energy generated by the one or more smart grid devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the replenishment of unforced capacity comprises recharging, based on a charge threshold identified in the control policies, the one or more smart grid devices to a charge level at or below the charge threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining that the charge level is at or above the charge threshold; and

triggering, based on an agreement with respect to the connection between the smart grid network and the power grid, energy generation by the one or more smart grid devices.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

triggering, based on the agreement, transmission of the generated energy to the power grid.

9. A network device comprising:

a memory to store control policies set for a network of smart grid devices connected to a power grid, the control policies including an energy consumption threshold associated with the network of smart grid devices; and

a processor configured to;

obtain energy consumption data associated with the network of smart grid devices,

compare the energy consumption data to the energy consumption threshold associated with the network of smart grid devices,

generate, responsive to results of the comparing indicating that the energy consumption threshold is exceeded, a first instruction with respect to energy consumption associated with network of smart grid devices, and

generate, responsive to results of the comparing indicating that the energy consumption threshold is not exceeded, a second instruction with respect to replenishment of unforced capacity associated with the network of smart grid devices.

10. The network device of claim 9, wherein the first instruction corresponds to curtailment of a consumption of energy, by the network of smart grid devices, received via the power grid.

11. The network device of claim 9, wherein the first instruction corresponds to use of the unforced capacity associated with one or more of the smart grid devices.

12. The network device of claim 11, wherein the use of the unforced capacity comprises using energy stored by the one or more smart grid devices.

13. The network device of claim 11, wherein the use of the unforced capacity comprises using energy generated by the one or more smart grid devices.

14. The network device of claim 9, wherein the second instruction corresponds to recharging, based on a charge threshold identified in the control policies, one or more of the smart grid devices to a charge level at or below the charge threshold.

15. The network device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine that the charge level is at or above the charge threshold; and

generate, based on an agreement with respect to the connection between the smart grid network and the power grid, a third instruction for energy generation by the one or more smart grid devices.

16. The network device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate, based on an agreement, a fourth instruction for transmission of the generated energy to the power grid.

17. A system comprising:

a storage device to store control policies, associated with a network of smart grid devices that connect to a power grid, including a curtailment threshold corresponding to curtailing a amount of power, received via the power grid, elated to a curtailment operation; and

a first device configured to;

receive, from a second device associated with the power grid, a curtailment request with respect to a portion of the amount of power received via the power grid,

obtain, from a third device, a value representing an amount of unforced capacity associated with the network of smart grid devices,

determine a curtailment capacity based on a comparison of the curtailment threshold to the value representing an amount of unforced capacity,

perform a comparison of the curtailment capacity to the curtailment request,

generate, based on results of the comparison, a notification to not perform the curtailment operation responsive to the curtailment request exceeding the curtailment capacity, and

generate, based on results of the comparison, a notification to perform the curtailment operation responsive to the curtailment request not exceeding the curtailment capacity.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein, when obtaining the value representing an amount of unforced capacity, the first device is further configured to determine an amount of stored energy available from one of more of the smart grid devices.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein, when obtaining the value representing an amount of unforced capacity, the first device is further configured to determine an energy generation capacity for one of more of the smart grid devices.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein, responsive to generating the notification to perform the curtailment operation, the first device is further configured to generate a notification to perform a replenishment of unforced capacity with respect to at least one of:

energy stored in the network of smart grid devices, or

energy production by the network of smart grid devices.