TRANSACTIVE CONTROL AND COORDINATION FRAMEWORK AND ASSOCIATED TOOLKIT FUNCTIONS

• US 20140172503A1
• Filed: 12/16/2013
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Battelle Memorial Institute
• Original Assignee: Battelle Memorial Institute
• Inventors: Hammerstrom, Donald J., Melton, Ron, Esram, Trishan, Hathaway, John E.
• Granted Patent: US 10,740,775 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.31
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for facilitating operation and control of a resource distribution system (such as a power grid). For example, embodiments of the disclosed technology can be used to improve the resiliency of a power grid and to allow for improved consumption of renewable resources. Further, certain implementations facilitate a degree of decentralized operations not available elsewhere.

Claims

1. A method for operating a transactive node in a market-based electrical-energy-allocation system, comprising:

by computing hardware;

computing incentive signal data, the incentive signal data comprising data indicative of a cost of electric energy at the transactive node at a current time interval and data indicative of a forecasted cost of electric energy at the transactive node at one or more future time intervals;

computing feedback signal data, the feedback signal data comprising data indicative of an electric load at the transactive node at the current time interval and data indicative of a forecasted load for electric energy at the transactive node at the one or more future time intervals; and

transmitting the incentive signal data and the feedback signal data.

2. The method of claim 1), wherein the data indicative of the cost of electric energy comprises data indicative of a cost of real electrical energy, reactive electrical energy, or a combination of both real and reactive electrical energies at the transactive node at the current time interval, and wherein the data indicative of the forecasted cost of electric energy comprises data indicative of a forecasted cost of real electrical energy, reactive electrical energy, or a combination of both real and reactive electrical energies at the transactive node at the one or more future time intervals.

3. The method of claim 1), wherein the data indicative of the electric load comprises data indicative of a real electrical load, reactive electrical load, or a combination of both real and reactive electrical loads at the transactive node at the current time interval, and wherein the data indicative of the forecasted load for electric energy comprises data indicative of a forecasted load of real electrical load, reactive electrical load, or a combination of both real and reactive electrical loads at the transactive node at the one or more future time intervals.

4. The method of claim 1), wherein the incentive signal data further comprises data indicating a confidence level that the data indicative of the cost of electric energy at the transactive node at the current time interval is accurate, and data indicating a confidence level that the data indicative of the forecasted cost of electric energy at the transactive node at the one or more future time intervals is accurate.

5. The method of claim 1), wherein the feedback signal data further comprises data indicating a confidence level that the data indicative of the electric load at the transactive node at the current time interval is accurate, and data indicating a confidence level that the data indicative of the forecasted load for electric energy at the transactive node at the one or more future time intervals is accurate.

6. The method of claim 1), wherein the method further comprises receiving incentive signal data and feedback signal data from one or more neighboring transactive nodes, wherein the computing the incentive signal data is based at least in part on the received incentive signal data, and wherein the computing the feedback signal data is based at least in part on the received feedback signal data.

7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions for causing computer to perform the method of claim 1).

8. A transactive node comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1).

9. A method for operating a transactive node in a market-based electrical-energy-allocation system, comprising:

by computing hardware;

receiving incentive signal data at the transactive node from two or more neighboring transactive nodes, the incentive signal data from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes comprising data indicative of at least a cost of electric energy at a current time interval;

computing aggregated incentive signal data based at least in part on the incentive signal data from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes; and

transmitting the aggregated incentive signal data to a further transactive node

10. The method of claim 9), wherein the received incentive signal data and the transmitted aggregated incentive signal data comprise data indicative of a cost of real electrical energy, reactive electrical energy, or a combination of both real and reactive electrical energies.

11. The method of claim 9), wherein the received incentive signal data further includes data indicating a confidence level of the received incentive signal data.

12. The method of claim 9), wherein the transmitted incentive signal data further includes data indicating a confidence level of the transmitted incentive signal data.

13. The method of claim 9), wherein the aggregated incentive signal data comprises a weighted sum of the incentive signal data from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes.

14. The method of claim 9), wherein the aggregated incentive signal data is further modified to provide an incentive or disincentive to the further transactive node based on local conditions at the transactive node.

15. The method of claim 9), wherein the received incentive signal data comprises data indicative of the cost of electric energy at the current time interval and data indicative of a forecasted cost of electric energy at one or more future time intervals, and wherein the aggregated incentive signal data comprises data indicative of the aggregated cost of electric energy at the current time interval and data indicative of a forecasted aggregated cost of electric energy at one or more future time intervals.

16. The method of claim 9), wherein the method further comprises:

receiving feedback signal data at the transactive node from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes, the feedback signal data from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes comprising data indicative of at least an electric load for electric energy at a current time interval;

computing aggregated feedback signal data based at least in part on the feedback signal data from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes; and

transmitting the aggregated feedback signal data to the further transactive node.

17. The method of claim 16), wherein the received feedback signal data comprises data indicative of the electric load for electric energy at the current time interval and data indicative of a forecasted load of electric energy at the one or more future time intervals, and wherein the aggregated feedback signal data comprises data indicative of the aggregated load of electric energy at the current time interval and data indicative of a forecasted aggregated load of electric energy at one or more future time intervals.

18. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions for causing computer to perform the method of claim 9).

19. A transactive node comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 9).

20. A method for operating a transactive node in a market-based electrical-energy-allocation system, comprising:

by computing hardware;

receiving feedback signal data at a transactive node from two or more neighboring transactive nodes, the feedback signal data from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes comprising data indicative of at least an electric load for electric energy at a current time interval;

computing aggregated feedback signal data based at least in part on the feedback signal data from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes; and

transmitting the aggregated feedback signal data to a further transactive node.

21. The method of claim 20), wherein the received feedback signal data and the transmitted aggregated feedback signal data comprise data indicative of a real electrical load, reactive electrical load, or a combination of both real and reactive electrical loads.

22. The method of claim 20), wherein the received feedback signal data further includes data indicating a confidence level of the received feedback signal data.

23. The method of claim 20), wherein the transmitted feedback signal data further includes data indicating a confidence level of the transmitted feedback signal data.

24. The method of claim 20), wherein the received feedback signal data comprises data indicative of the electric load of electric energy at the current time interval and data indicative of a forecasted load of electric energy at one or more future time intervals, and wherein the aggregated feedback signal data comprises data indicative of the aggregated load of electric energy at the current time interval and data indicative of a forecasted aggregated load of electric energy at the one or more future time intervals.

25. The method of claim 20), wherein the method further comprises:

receiving incentive signal data at the transactive node from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes, the incentive signal data from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes comprising data indicative of at least a cost of electric energy at the current time interval;

computing aggregated incentive signal data based at least in part on the incentive signal data from the two or more neighboring transactive nodes; and

transmitting the aggregated incentive signal data to the further transactive node.

26. The method of claim 25), wherein the received incentive signal data comprises data indicative of the cost of electric energy at the current time interval and data indicative of a forecasted cost of electric energy at the one or more future time intervals, and wherein the aggregated incentive signal data comprises data indicative of the aggregated cost of electric energy at the current time interval and data indicative of a forecasted aggregated cost of electric energy at one or more future time intervals.

27. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions for causing computer to perform the method of claim 20).

28. A transactive node comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 20).

29. A system for distributing electricity, comprising:

a plurality of transactive nodes, each transactive node being associated with one or more electric resources, one or more electric loads, or a combination of one or more electric resources and one or more electric loads; and

a network connected to the transactive nodes to facilitate communication between the transactive nodes,

the transactive nodes being configured to exchange incentive and feedback signals with one another in order to determine an electrical demand in the system for a current time interval and to provide an electrical supply sufficient to meet the electrical demand for the current time interval.

30. The system of claim 29), wherein the current time interval is the time interval that is next to occur and be coordinated by the system.

31. The system of claim 29), wherein the transactive nodes are further configured to exchange incentive and feedback signals for two or more future time intervals in addition to the incentive and feedback signals for the current time interval.

32. The system of claim 31), wherein the two or more future time intervals have increasingly coarser granularity.

33. The system of claim 29), wherein at least one of the transactive nodes modifies one or both of its incentive or feedback signals in response to previously received incentive and feedback signals.

34. The system of claim 33), wherein the at least one of the transactive nodes is associated with an elastic load, and wherein the modified incentive or feedback signals corresponds to a predicted change in the elastic load.

35. The system of claim 33), wherein the at least one of the transactive nodes is associated with an electrical resource, and wherein the modified incentive or feedback signals corresponds to a change in the electrical resource.

36. The system of claim 33), wherein the at least one of the transactive nodes is associated with an electrical resource, and wherein the modified incentive signals correspond to a change in local conditions.

37. The system of claim 29), wherein one or more of the transactive nodes compute their respective incentive and feedback signals using functions selected from a library of functions.

38. The system of claim 29), wherein the incentive and feedback signals further include confidence level data indicating a respective reliability of the incentive and feedback signals.

39. A system for distributing electricity, comprising:

a plurality of transactive nodes, each transactive node being associated with one or more electric resources, one or more electric loads, or a combination of one or more electric resources and one or more electric loads; and

a network connected to the transactive nodes and facilitating communication between the transactive nodes,

the transactive nodes being configured to exchange sets of signals with one another in order to determine an electrical demand in the system for a current time interval and to provide an electrical supply sufficient to meet the electrical demand for the current time interval,

each set of signals including signals for determining the electric loads and supplies for the current time interval as well as signals for determining the electric loads and supplies for two or more future time intervals.

40. The system of claim 39), wherein the current time interval corresponds to an imminent time interval that is next to occur in the system.

41. The system of claim 39), wherein the future time intervals have increasingly longer durations as the time intervals are farther into the future relative to the current time interval.

42. The system of claim 39), wherein the transactive nodes are configured to update the values of the sets of signals at an update frequency, the update frequency corresponding to a duration of the current time interval.

43. The system of claim 39), wherein the transactive nodes are configured to exchange the set of signals with one another iteratively over time such that the signals for a respective time interval stabilize as the respective time interval approaches the current time interval.

44. The system of claim 39), wherein the transactive nodes are configured to exchange the set of signals with one another on an asynchronous event-driven basis or a clock-driven basis.

45. The system of claim 39), wherein a respective set of the transactive nodes are configured to iteratively exchange a set of signals with one another until the exchanged set of signals converges to within an acceptable degree of tolerance.

46. The system of claim 39), wherein a transactive node in the respective set of the transactive nodes is further configured to transmit an updated set of signals when local conditions at the transactive node cause the updated set of signals to deviate from a previously transmitted set of signals beyond a relaxation criterion.

47. The system of claim 39), wherein the sets of signals further include confidence level data indicating a respective reliability of the exchanged signals.

48. A system for distributing electricity, comprising:

a plurality of transactive nodes, each transactive node being associated with one or more electric supplies, one or more electric loads, or a combination of one or more electric supplies and one or more electric loads; and

a network connected to the transactive nodes and facilitating communication between the transactive nodes,

the transactive nodes being configured to exchange sets of signals with one another in order to determine an electrical demand in the system for a current time interval and to provide an electrical supply sufficient to meet the electrical demand for the current time interval,

a respective one of the transactive nodes being configured to compute its incentive and feedback signals using one or more functions selected from a library of functions.

49. The system of claim 48), wherein the one or more functions selected from the library of functions are selected based on the type and number of electrical supplies and electrical loads with which the respective transactive node is associated.

50. The system of claim 48), wherein the one or more functions include one or more load functions, one or more resource functions, or a combination of one or more load functions and resource functions.

51. The system of claim 48), wherein the one or more functions are selected from a group of resource functions comprising one or more of:

(a. a resource function adapted to account for imported electrical energy,

(b. a resource function adapted to account for a renewable energy resource,

(c. a resource function adapted to account for fossil fuel generation;

(d. a resource function adapted to account for general infrastructure cost;

(e. a resource function adapted to account for system constraints;

(f. a resource function adapted to account for system energy losses;

(g. a resource function adapted to account for demand charges;

(h. a resource function adapted to account for market impacts.

52. The system of claim 48), wherein the one or more functions are selected from a group of load functions comprising one or more of:

(a. a load function adapted to account for a bulk inelastic load,

(b. a load function adapted to account for an event-driven demand response;

(c. a load function adapted to account for a time-of-use demand response;

(d. a load function adapted to account for a real-time continuum demand response.

53. The system of claim 48), wherein the respective one of the transactive nodes controls one or more elastic loads and adjusts the one or more elastic loads in response to the feedback and incentive signals received at the respective one of the transactive nodes.

54. The system of claim 48), wherein the one or more functions are implemented by individual software modules that can be combined with one another to implement the desired transactor behavior for the respective one of the transactive nodes.

55. The system of claim 48), wherein, through the use of the one or more functions, the respective one of the transactive nodes computes a control signal selected from a set of signed whole numbers and communicates the computed control signal to one or more loads, resources, or loads and resources associated with the respective one of the transactive nodes.

56. The system of claim 55), wherein the computed control signal is interpreted by an electrical generator or set of electrical generators as a fraction of the generator'"'"'s or generators'"'"' rated generation capacity.

57. The system of claim 55), wherein the computed control signal is interpreted by an electrical load or set of electrical loads as a fraction of the load'"'"'s or loads'"'"' rated power.

58. A method, comprising:

for a transactive node associated with one or more electric resources, one or more electric loads, or a combination of one or more electric resources or one or more electric loads;

selecting one or more functions from a library of functions, the selection being based at least in part on the type of one or more electric resources or electric loads associated with the transactive node; and

configuring the transactive node to compute transactive signals using the selected one or more functions.

59. The method of claim 58), wherein the selected one or more functions are adapted for the type of electrical load or electrical supply associated with the transactive node.

60. The method of claim 58), wherein the configuring comprising causing computing hardware used to implement the transactive node to execute a software program for performing computations using the selected one or more functions.

61. The method of claim 58), further comprising accessing a database storing the library of functions.

62. The method of claim 61), wherein the database is a database remotely located from the transactive node.

63. The method of claim 58), wherein the selected one or more functions include a function that computes data representing one or more of energy, an energy cost, or an incentive for one or more electric resources associated with the transactive node.

64. The method of claim 58), wherein the selected one or more functions include a function that computes data representing one or more of a predicted inelastic load or changes in elastic load for one or more electric loads associated with the transactive node.

65. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions for causing computer to perform the method of claim 58).

66. A transactive node comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 58).