METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE OPERATION OF AN ON-SITE ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM TO CO-OPTIMIZE BATTERY DISPATCH

• US 20180144414A1
• Filed: 03/29/2017
• Published: 05/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Swell Energy, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Advanced MicroGrid Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Ja-Chin Audrey, Noone, Corey, Knox, Kate
• Granted Patent: US 10,275,842 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00 Circuit arrangements for providing remote indication of network conditions, e.g. an instantaneous record of the open or closed condition of each circuitbreaker in the network; Circuit arrangements for providing remote control of switching means in a power distribution network, e.g. switching in and out of current consumers by using a pulse code signal carried by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00006 characterised by information or instructions transport means between the monitoring, controlling or managing units and monitored, controlled or operated power network element or electrical equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00034 the elements or equipment being or involving an electric power substation
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2203/20 Simulating, e g planning, reliability check, modelling or computer assisted design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/003 Load forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future load demand
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/32 using batteries with converting means
• 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 10/14 Energy storage units
• 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 40/12 characterised by data transport means between the monitoring, controlling or managing units and monitored, controlled or operated electrical equipment
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/20 Information technology specific aspects, e.g. CAD, simulation, modelling, system security
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/12 Billing, invoicing, buying or selling transactions or other related activities, e.g. cost or usage evaluation

Abstract

Various embodiments are provided for facilitating the operation and control of a fleet of on-site energy assets and optimizing energy dispatch across the fleet, thereby facilitating the use of the on-site energy assets instead of grid-supplied electric consumption. An example system may comprise a central platform and a plurality of on-site gateway devices configured to perform on-site asset control. An example method may comprise receiving a service availability call, performing fleet-level optimization, generating a set of site-level schedules, and causing, as a function of the site-level schedules, real-time on-site asset control. Other embodiments provide for determining a location of each grid-connected energy consumer at which to reduce grid-supplied energy consumption, determining an amount of a reduction of grid-supplied energy consumption, and transmitting a signal to each corresponding gateway device located at the determined location, the signal comprising data indicative of instructions for performing on-site energy dispatch.

Claims

1-9. -9. (canceled)

10. A method comprising:

calculating site load curves indicating predicted site load of a customer at each of a plurality of periods of a day as a function of one or more of historical meter and billing data, in consideration of other existing on-site generation resources, and market or weather data, for each of one or more customers with on-site energy assets within a given portfolio aggregation;

performing portfolio-level optimization as a function of the site load curves and a tariff library, the portfolio-level optimization configured to segment the site load curves in accordance with tariff periods and other site-level restrictions, and for each segment, calculate and output a power consumption maximum threshold;

generating a set of site-level schedules, as a function of the portfolio-level optimization and one or more site restrictions, the set of site-level schedules configured to be provided to a gateway apparatus for facilitating the use of the on-site energy assets instead of grid-supplied electric consumption; and

transmitting the site-level schedule to a gateway device; and

causing, at a start time of a given segment, real-time or near real-time on-site asset control.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the on-site energy assets comprise energy storage resources and the site-level restrictions comprise instructions on battery charging and discharging.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the on-site asset control, further comprises:

during a segment in which a customer'"'"'s tariff or rate is less than a pre-defined threshold and site-level restrictions permit charging, causing the predicted site load to be satisfied via grid-supplied electric consumption and allowing charging of the energy storage resources to the extent that the predicted site load does not meet the scheduled maximum threshold.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the on-site asset control, further comprises:

during a segment in which a customer'"'"'s tariff or rate is less than a pre-defined threshold and site-level restrictions do not permit charging, causing the predicted site load to be satisfied via grid-supplied electric consumption and dis-allowing charging of the energy storage resources.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the on-site asset control, further comprises:

during a segment in which a customer'"'"'s tariff or rate is greater than a pre-defined threshold and the site-level restrictions do not permit charging, causing the predicted site load to be satisfied via grid-supplied electric consumption up to a scheduled maximum threshold and causing any remaining portion of the predicted site load to be satisfied via electricity generation of the on-site energy asset and preventing charging of the energy storage resources.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein the on-site asset control, further comprises:

preventing net export to the grid caused by electricity generation of the on-site energy asset, should that site restriction exist from utility, interconnection, or other regulations and requirements.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein the energy storage resources comprise battery systems.

17. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

preventing net export to the grid caused by user of the on-site energy assets, should that site restriction exist from utility, interconnection, or other regulations and requirements.

18. The method according to claim 10, wherein the on-site energy assets comprise one or more of renewable or non-renewable fuel generators or turbines.

19-34. -34. (canceled)

35. A method for performing fleet-level management for reducing grid-supplied energy consumption with a firm capacity reduction, the method comprising:

receiving or accessing input data from a plurality of gateway apparatus, the plurality of gateway apparatus comprising at least a first gateway apparatus located at a first location, the first location being on-site of a grid-connected energy consumer and the second gateway apparatus located at a second location, the second location being on a different site of the grid-connected energy consumer or a different grid-connected energy consumer, each of the plurality of gateway apparatus configured to control an on-site energy asset, comprising at least an energy asset device, to control use of on-site energy instead of grid-supplied energy consumption;

determining, as a function of the input data, a location of each grid-connected energy consumers at which to reduce grid-supplied energy consumption;

determining an amount of a reduction of grid-supplied energy consumption, and further allocate a total reduction across the systems of each grid-connected energy consumer;

transmitting a signal to each corresponding gateway device located at the determined location, the signal comprising data indicative of instructions for performing on-site energy dispatch.

36. The method according to claim 35, wherein the instructions are configured to override a previously supplied site-level schedule and increase on-site energy asset usage.

37. The method according to claim 35, further comprising:

receiving a utility request, the utility request comprising at least a geographic area or set of substations and time period at which to reduce grid-supplied energy consumption; and

performing fleet-level optimization to determine which one or more of the plurality of gateway apparatus to instruct to perform on-site energy dispatch and at what times, thus reducing grid-supplied energy consumption in consideration of net export restrictions where applicable; and

providing one or more site-level schedules to each of a plurality of affected gateway apparatuses for facilitating control of on-site energy asset usage and grid-supplied electric consumption.

38. The method according to claim 37, wherein fleet-level optimization comprises:

maximizing a sum of a total bill savings across all accounts and utility revenue minus amortized development cost.

39. The method according to claim 37, wherein fleet-level optimization is a function of a bill savings amount of each of the grid-connected energy consumers.

40. The method according to claim 37, wherein fleet-level optimization is a function of utility revenue, the utility revenue being a function of an amount of on-site energy dispatched.

41. The method according to claim 37, wherein fleet-level optimization is a function of a development cost, the development cost being a function of one or more of on-site energy storage system cost, installation cost, maintenance cost, and operational cost.

42-48. -48. (canceled)