Decision support system based on energy markets

Abstract

A system for purchasing and selling power that fairly accommodates sellers and buyers. For instance, a submarket may be formed between a utility company or retailer and its consumer or customer. The utility or retailer may eliminate differences between generated or purchased power and demanded power. Mechanisms used for elimination of power differences may incorporate utilizing power from ancillary services, purchasing or selling power on the spot market, and affecting a demand for power with demand response programs. A difference between purchased power and demanded power may be minimized by forming an optimal power stack having a mix of power of the demand response program, power at the spot market and/or power of ancillary services. An optimization sequence may be implemented to minimize the difference between the purchased power and demanded power, and to maximize profit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for optimizing a balance of power, comprising:
 a first mechanism that decides about purchasing power from ancillary services;   a second mechanism that purchases or sells power at a spot market;   a third mechanism that purchases or sells power according to a demand response program; and   a processor having a connection to the first, second and third mechanisms; and   wherein the processor processes a reduction of a difference between purchased power of a supplier and demanded power of a consumer, by determining an amount of power bought and/or sold with one or more of the first, second and third mechanisms.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the difference between purchased power and demanded power is minimized by forming an optimal power stack. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the power stack comprises a mix having power via the demand response program, power at the spot market, and/or power from ancillary services. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the processor determines the mix of the power stack to minimize the difference between purchased power and demanded power. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an optimization sequence; and   wherein the optimization sequence comprises maximizing profit and/or minimizing the difference between the purchased power and the demanded power.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 P Load  is demanded power;   P Purchased  is purchased power; and   ΔP is the difference between P Load  and P Purchased .   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein:
 P DR =αΔP;   P Spot βΔP;   P AS =χΔP;   ΔP Correction  comprises P DR , P Spot  and P AS ;   ΔP+ΔP Correction =0; and   α+β+χ≈1.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein a could be a discrete variable representing a magnitude of acceptance of the consumer in the demand response program. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein:
 a power difference is ΔP=P Load −P Purchased ;   for a load greater than supply, ΔP=P DR −P Spot −P AS =0 and R(ΔP)=R Load (P)−R DR (αΔP)+R Spot (βΔP)−R AS (χΔP)−R Purchased ;   −P DR −P Spot −P AS =ΔP Correction ;   R(ΔP) is profit;   R Load (P) is a price of the load;   R DR (αΔP) is a price of power determined between the utility and the consumer in a demand response relationship;   R Spot (βΔP) is a price of power on an open market;   R AS (χΔP) is a price of power from a system operator providing ancillary services at a set price;   α+β+χ≈1; and   
       
         
           
             
               
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         10 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein:
 a power difference is ΔP=P Load −P Purchased ;   for a load greater than supply, ΔP=P DR +P Spot +P AS =0 and R(ΔP)=R Load (P)−R DR (αΔP)−R Spot (βΔP)−R AS (χΔP)−R Purchased ;   −P DR +P Spot +P AS =ΔP Correction ;   R(ΔP) is profit;   R Load (P) is a price of the load;   R DR (αΔP) is a price of power determined between the utility and the consumer in a demand response relationship;   R Spot (βΔP) is a price of power on an open market;   R AS (χΔP) is a price of power from a system operator providing ancillary services at a set price;   α+β+χ≈1; and   
       
         
           
             
               
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         11 . A system for managing energy, comprising:
 a server;   a virtual energy marketing (VEM) module connected to the server;   a utility energy source connected to the VEM module;   a meter data management (MDM) database connected to the VEM module;   an energy consumer connected to the server and the MDM database; and   an energy market source connected to the VEM module.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the VEM module comprises:
 a decision engine connected to the utility energy source and the server;   a scenario generator connected to the decision engine;   a forecaster mechanism connected to the scenario generator and the MDM database; and   a probability distribution generator connected to the forecaster, the energy market database and the weather forecast database.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising a weather forecast database connected to the probability distribution generator. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the utility provides information about power unbalance between loaded power and purchased power and/or grid status to the decision engine;   demand response signals and business information are exchanged between the consumer and the server;   the decision engine provides optimal timing and selection of demand response resources to the server;   the consumer provides energy consumption data to the MDM database;   the forecaster receives selected relevant data from the MDM database; and   the energy market source provides a market price to the probability distribution generator.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 a weather forecast database connected to the probability distribution generator; and   wherein the weather forecast database provides weather parameters to the probability distribution generator.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the server is a demand response automation server. 
     
     
         17 . A method for coordinating power transactions, comprising:
 finding out an amount of purchased power of a utility;   finding out an amount of demanded power by a consumer;   minimizing a power difference between an amount of purchased power of the utility and an amount of demanded power by the consumer;   minimizing the power difference that depends on, at least in part, purchasing power from a system operator providing ancillary services at a set price, selling or purchasing power on the open market at market price, and/or selling or purchasing power at a price determined between the utility and the consumer in a demand response relationship.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein:
 the power difference is between an amount of purchased power of the utility and an amount of demanded power by the consumer, with optimizing a combination of P Spot , P AS  and P DR ; and   goals of optimizing the combination comprise maximizing profit to the utility and minimizing the power difference.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein:
 αΔP, βΔP and χΔP represent portions of the respective power that constitute the power difference between the amount of purchased power of the utility and the amount of demanded power by the consumer;   parameters α, β and χ are determined to minimize the power difference; and   α+β+χ≈1.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein:
 a power difference is ΔP=P Load −P Purchased ;   for a load greater than supply, ΔP=P DR −P Spot −P AS =0 and R(ΔP)=R Load (P)−R DR (αΔP)+R Spot (βΔP)−R AS (χΔP)−R Purchased ;   −P DR −P Spot −P AS =ΔP Correction ;   R(ΔP) is profit;   R Load (P) is a price of the load;   R DR (αΔP) is a price of power determined between the utility and the consumer in a demand response relationship;   R Spot (βΔP) is a price of power on an open market;   R AS (χΔP) is a price of power from a distribution company providing ancillary services at a set price;   and   α+β+χ≈1.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein:
 a power difference is ΔP=P Load −P Purchased ;   for a load greater than supply, ΔP=P DR +P Spot +P AS =0 and R(ΔP)=R Load (P)−R DR (αΔP)−R Spot (βΔP)−R AS (χΔP)−R Purchased ;   −P DR +P Spot +P AS =ΔP Correction ;   R(ΔP) is profit;   R Load (R) is a price of the load;   R DR (αΔP) is a price of power determined between the utility and the consumer in a demand response relationship;   R Spot (βΔP) is a price of power on an open market;   R AS (χΔP) is a price of power from a distribution company providing ancillary services at a set price;   and   α+β+χ≈1.