Power management device, power management system, and power management program

Abstract

To provide a power managing device capable of prompting consumers to cooperate for an imbalance avoidance.SOLUTION: A power managing device includes: an imbalance information obtaining unit 13 that obtains a price signal which is information decided on the basis of an imbalance fee unit price and which is information representing a profit of a consumer as of when an imbalance avoidance is carried out using a power resource of the consumer; a demand predicting unit 20 that predicts a power demand of the consumer for a certain time period using actual values of past power demands of the consumer; and an operation plan creating unit 22 which calculates, using a contracted unit price that is a unit price of an electricity fee per a time slot in accordance with a fee plan of the consumer, the price signal, and the prediction result by the demand predicting unit 20, an index relating to the profit when the consumer operates the power resource corresponding to the imbalance avoidance for the certain time period, determines, using the index, whether or not the consumer should perform the imbalance avoidance for the certain time period, and creates the operation plan of the power resource of the consumer on the basis of the determination result.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a power management device, a power management system, and a power management program that manage power of a consumer. [Background technology]

[0002] The number of consumers who own storage batteries to reduce electricity bills, store natural energy, and secure emergency power sources is increasing, and the number of consumers who own electric vehicles (EVs) equipped with storage batteries is also increasing. Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for making effective use of storage batteries. In the technology described in Patent Document 1, for a storage battery installed in a building, the amount of power consumption by consumers in the building is predicted based on actual values, and a charging and discharging plan for the storage battery is created to optimize costs based on the prediction results and information on the price of electricity, such as the unit price of electricity by time period and the market price of electricity. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-33566 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] On the other hand, in recent years, with the increase in trading products in the electricity market, opportunities for retailers to trade electricity and adjustment power are increasing. Retailers are required to pay an imbalance fee when a difference occurs between the planned demand curve and the actual value, and the unit price of the imbalance fee, which is the unit price of the imbalance fee, fluctuates according to the market price, so the amount of loss of retailers due to the occurrence of a shortage imbalance and the selling price of surplus electricity when an excess imbalance occurs fluctuate accordingly. It has been considered to eliminate the imbalance by adjusting the charging and discharging of storage batteries owned by consumers and adjusting load equipment that consumes electricity, but consumers will not cooperate with adjustments to avoid imbalances unless they have an incentive. The technology described in Patent Document 1 does not assume that consumers will cooperate with retailers to avoid imbalances, and even if the technology described in Patent Document 1 is used, it is not possible to promote consumers' cooperation in retailers' avoidance of imbalances. It is desired to promote consumers' cooperation in avoiding imbalances.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to provide a power management device that can encourage consumers to cooperate in avoiding imbalances. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the power management device according to the present disclosure provides information that is determined based on an imbalance charge unit price and indicates the benefit of a consumer when imbalance avoidance is performed using the consumer's power resources. Unit price of Shown by time period The power management device further includes an imbalance information acquisition unit that acquires a price signal, which is information, and a demand forecasting unit that forecasts the power demand of the consumer for a certain period of time using an actual value of the power demand of the consumer. For each consumer,The system calculates an index relating to the profit when the consumer operates power resources corresponding to imbalance avoidance for a certain period of time using a contract unit price, which is the unit price of electricity by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, a price signal, and a forecast result by a demand forecasting unit, and determines whether the consumer will avoid imbalances for a certain period of time using the index, and determines whether the consumer will avoid imbalances for a certain period of time based on the result of this determination. For each customer over a certain period The system includes an operation plan creation unit that creates an operation plan. Effect of the Invention

[0007] The power management device according to the present disclosure has an effect of encouraging cooperation of consumers in avoiding imbalances. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a power management system according to an embodiment; [Diagram 2] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation plan creation process in a power management apparatus according to an embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a second resource operation plan according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a second resource operation plan in the case where surplus imbalance is avoided. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a computer system that realizes a power management apparatus according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] A power management apparatus, a power management system, and a power management program according to the embodiments will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0010] Embodiment FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a power management system according to an embodiment. A power management system 4 according to the present embodiment includes a power management device 1 and a retailer device 2. The retailer device 2 is a device managed and operated by a power retailer. The power management device 1 is a device managed by, for example, a business called an aggregator that aggregates and manages the power of multiple consumers. Note that while FIG. 1 shows one consumer facility 3 that is a consumer facility, the power management device 1 generally manages the power of each of the consumer facilities 3 of multiple consumers.

[0011] The consumer equipment 3 includes load equipment that consumes power, storage batteries, solar power generation equipment, etc. The equipment constituting the consumer equipment 3 may differ depending on the consumer. The consumer equipment 3 is provided with an electric power metering device called a smart meter (not shown), and the metering device transmits the measured electric power amount to the power management device 1. In addition, if the consumer equipment 3 includes a storage battery, a power conditioner that controls the storage battery may transmit the measurement value of the charging and discharging power of the storage battery to the power management device 1. In the case where the consumer equipment 3 includes a solar power generation equipment, a power conditioner constituting the solar power generation equipment may transmit the measurement value of the generated power to the power management device 1.

[0012] Retail businesses are required to ensure that power generation and demand match in the planned values. When a difference occurs between the planned values ​​and the actual values, and a shortage imbalance occurs in which demand exceeds power generation in the actual values, the retail business will pay a (shortage) imbalance fee to the electricity transmission and distribution business. When a difference occurs between the planned values ​​and the actual values, and a surplus imbalance occurs in which power generation exceeds demand in the actual values, the retail business will purchase power from the electricity transmission and distribution business at a (surplus) imbalance fee. The imbalance fee unit price, which is the unit price of the imbalance fee for each shortage imbalance and surplus imbalance, is determined based on the market price of electricity, so the imbalance fee unit price fluctuates in accordance with fluctuations in the market price of electricity. It is desirable for retail businesses to avoid shortage imbalances as much as possible when the imbalance fee unit price is high. It is also desirable for retail businesses to avoid surplus imbalances as much as possible when the imbalance fee unit price is low.

[0013] In this embodiment, the retailer transmits a price signal to the power management device 1, which is information determined based on the imbalance charge unit price and indicates the consumer's profit when the consumer avoids the imbalance using the consumer's power resource. The price signal is, for example, information indicating the unit price of the charge paid to the consumer when the consumer cooperates in avoiding the imbalance for each time period (hereinafter referred to as the consumer imbalance unit price). For example, the retailer predicts the time period in which the imbalance will occur based on the supply and demand plan of the power managed by the retailer, and determines the price signal using the prediction result and the imbalance charge unit price (predicted value of the imbalance charge price) based on the market price of the power. Although not shown in the figure, the retailer manages consumers and power generation facilities other than the consumers under the aggregator that manages the power management device 1 shown in FIG. 1, and the above-mentioned supply and demand plan is a supply and demand plan for the entire managed area of ​​the retailer. For example, the retailer determines the consumer imbalance unit price based on the imbalance charge unit price for the time period in which the imbalance is predicted not to occur, and sets the determined consumer imbalance unit price as the price signal. For example, a retailer may determine the consumer imbalance unit price by multiplying the imbalance charge unit price by a set ratio, such as setting the consumer imbalance unit price at 50% of the imbalance charge unit price, or may set the consumer imbalance unit price at a price obtained by subtracting a fixed amount from the imbalance charge unit price, or may determine the consumer imbalance unit price by a method other than these. Furthermore, a retailer may not set a price signal for a time period in which no imbalance is predicted to occur. That is, for example, a retailer may set the price signal to 0 yen for a time period in which no imbalance is predicted to occur.

[0014] In addition, the method of determining the price signal in the retailer is not limited to the above example, and the price signal may be determined so that "the unit power generation cost (unit price) of the power generator requiring adjustment necessary to avoid imbalance" > "the unit power generation cost of the consumer managed by the aggregator". The unit power generation cost of the consumer managed by the aggregator includes not only the unit price when power is generated by the generator, but also the unit price of apparent power generation by suppressing demand. For example, the retailer transmits "the unit power generation cost of the consumer managed by the aggregator" as multiple patterns of price signals to the power management device 1, and the power management device 1 creates a power generation plan for the consumer's power generation facility using the multiple patterns of price signals. The retailer compares the power generation plan received from the power management device 1 with the power generation plan of the power generator requiring adjustment, and adopts the power generation plan with the lower cost.

[0015] The power management device 1 uses the price signal to create an operation plan for the consumer facility 3 so as to suppress the cost borne by the consumer who can adjust the amount of power demand or supply. For example, the power management device 1 acquires measurement values ​​received from a metering device, a power conditioner, etc. of the consumer facility 3 as actual values, predicts the amount of power generated and consumed using the acquired actual values, and creates an operation plan for the consumer facility 3 using the prediction result and information on the power rate. The information on the power rate includes the unit price of electricity by time period according to the rate plan subscribed to by each consumer, and the price signal acquired from the retailer device 2. The power management device 1 transmits the operation plan for each consumer and the rate information corresponding to the operation plan to the retailer device 2. The rate information transmitted by the power management device 1 is information indicating the conditions for settling the electricity rate for each consumer.

[0016] In this embodiment, the power management device 1 creates an operation plan to reduce the costs borne by consumers by using the price signal presented by the retailer, and therefore can create an operation plan that reduces the occurrence of imbalances while taking into account the benefits of consumers. This can encourage consumers to cooperate in avoiding imbalances.

[0017] As shown in FIG. 1, the power management device 1 of this embodiment includes a consumer information memory unit 11, an equipment information memory unit 12, an imbalance information acquisition unit 13, a plan creation unit 14, a plan determination unit 15, a plan memory unit 16, a control execution unit 17, an actual value acquisition unit 18, a demand actual value memory unit 19, a demand forecasting unit 20, and a plan information transmission unit 21.

[0018] The consumer information storage unit 11 stores consumer information, which is information on charges for each consumer. The consumer information includes information indicating the unit price of electricity by time period according to the contract contents. The consumer information may include tolerance information indicating tolerance conditions for cooperation in avoiding imbalance. For consumers who do not specify tolerance conditions, that is, consumers who agree to any imbalance avoidance, information indicating no constraints is stored as tolerance information. For consumers who do not agree to avoid imbalance, information indicating that they do not agree to avoid imbalance is stored as tolerance information. When the consumer equipment 3 includes multiple pieces of equipment, tolerance conditions may be determined for each piece of equipment. The information indicating the unit price of electricity by time period may be information indicating a rate plan corresponding to the consumer, or may be information indicating the unit price of electricity by time period itself. In the former case, the consumer information storage unit 11 stores rate plan information indicating the unit price of electricity by time period for each rate plan. Furthermore, when all consumers managed by the aggregator are on the same rate plan, rate plan information indicating the unit price of electricity for each time period of the rate plan needs to be stored in the consumer information storage unit 11, and the consumer rate information may include only the tolerance information, or the consumer rate information itself may not be used. The consumer rate information may be stored in the consumer information storage unit 11 by being input by an operator using an input means (not shown), or may be transmitted from another device and stored in the consumer information storage unit 11.

[0019] The facility information storage unit 12 stores facility information, which is information on the consumer facility 3 for each consumer. For a consumer who owns a storage battery, the facility information includes, for example, the capacity of the storage battery, upper and lower limits of SOC (State Of Charge), and the rated value of a power conditioner that controls the storage battery, and for a consumer who owns a solar power generation facility, the rated value of the solar power generation facility. The facility information may be input by an operator using an input means (not shown) and stored in the facility information storage unit 12, or may be transmitted from another device and stored in the facility information storage unit 12.

[0020] The imbalance information acquisition unit 13 receives a price signal from the retailer device 2 and outputs the received price signal to the plan creation unit 14.

[0021] The plan creation unit 14 and the plan determination unit 15 constitute the operation plan creation unit 22. The operation plan creation unit 22 calculates an index related to a profit when the consumer operates the power resource corresponding to the imbalance avoidance in a certain period of time using a contract unit price, which is a unit price of electricity by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, a price signal, and a prediction result by the demand prediction unit 20. The operation plan creation unit 22 determines whether the consumer will avoid the imbalance in a certain period of time using the index, and creates an operation plan for the consumer's power resource based on the result of this determination. Specifically, the operation plan creation unit 22 creates an operation plan that reflects the consumer's operation corresponding to the imbalance avoidance based on the index when the consumer can obtain a profit by avoiding the imbalance. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the plan creation unit 14 and the plan determination unit 15 are separated, but the operation plan creation unit 22 in which the plan determination unit 15 and the plan creation unit 14 are integrated may be provided.

[0022] The plan creation unit 14 uses the forecast information indicating the forecast result by the demand forecast unit 20, the consumer information stored in the consumer information storage unit 11, the equipment information stored in the equipment information storage unit 12, and the price signal received from the imbalance information acquisition unit 13 to create an operation plan for a certain period of time for the power resource of the consumer equipment 3 for each consumer. The power resource is equipment capable of adjusting power, and includes, for example, a storage battery and a power generation equipment, but may also be a load equipment if the power of the load equipment is adjustable. The certain period is, for example, one day until the next day, but is not limited to this, and may be two days or one week. In the following description, the certain period is assumed to be one day until the next day.

[0023] Specifically, the plan creation unit 14 creates a first resource operation plan, which is an operation plan for the consumer facility 3 when imbalance avoidance is not performed, and a second resource operation plan, which is an operation plan for the consumer facility 3 when imbalance avoidance is performed, and stores them in the plan storage unit 16. The first resource operation plan and the second resource operation plan are created, for example, to optimize the consumer's profit. Optimization of the consumer's profit is, for example, minimization of the cost borne by the consumer. The plan creation unit 14 also stores in the plan creation unit 14 the cost (expense) of the consumer corresponding to the first resource operation plan and the cost of the consumer corresponding to the second resource operation plan. In addition, the plan creation unit 14 also stores information indicating the imbalance avoidance time period, which is a time period in which the cost is calculated on the premise of cooperation in the imbalance avoidance in the creation of the second resource operation plan, in the plan storage unit 16 in association with the second resource operation plan. The information indicating the imbalance avoidance time period includes information indicating whether the cooperation corresponds to the avoidance of a shortage imbalance or the avoidance of a surplus imbalance for each time period. Alternatively, information indicating imbalance avoidance time periods may be created for each of avoiding a shortage imbalance and avoiding an surplus imbalance. In addition, the plan creation unit 14 creates a supply and demand plan for the consumer based on the determination result by the plan determination unit 15, and stores the supply and demand plan in the plan storage unit 16.

[0024] The plan determination unit 15 determines, for each consumer, which of the first resource operation plan and the second resource operation plan is to be used, using the respective costs of the first resource operation plan and the second resource operation plan, and notifies the plan creation unit 14 of the determination result. In detail, the plan determination unit 15 uses an index that is the difference between the cost corresponding to the first resource operation plan and the cost corresponding to the second resource operation plan to determine whether the consumer will avoid imbalance, and determines the operation plan of the consumer's power resource based on the determination result. This index is an index related to the profit when the consumer operates the power resource corresponding to imbalance avoidance for a certain period of time, and specifically, for example, is the above-mentioned cost difference. The plan determination unit 15 leaves the determined operation plan of the first resource operation plan and the second resource operation plan in the plan storage unit 16, and deletes the other operation plan.

[0025] The control execution unit 17 controls the consumer equipment 3, which is a power resource, based on the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16. As shown in FIG. 1, the control execution unit 17 includes a command value creation unit 171 and a command value transmission unit 172. For example, for a storage battery in the consumer equipment 3, the command value creation unit 171 creates a command value for charging and discharging the storage battery by performing feedback control for each control period based on a measurement value, which is an actual value of charging and discharging power acquired by the actual value acquisition unit 18 from a power conditioner that controls the storage battery, and the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16. The command value may be the charging power or the discharging power itself, or may be an amount by which the charging power is increased or an amount by which the discharging power is increased. The command value transmission unit 172 transmits the command value created by the command value creation unit 171 to the consumer equipment 3. The control period is, for example, one minute, and the measurement value is also acquired every minute, but the control period is not limited to this example. In addition, the control method for the consumer equipment 3 is not limited to this example.

[0026] The actual value acquisition unit 18 acquires a measurement value of the amount of power from a metering device of the consumer facility 3, and stores the measurement value of the amount of power in the demand actual value storage unit 19 as a measurement value of the amount of power. The actual value acquisition unit 18 also acquires a measurement value of the amount of power generated from the consumer facility 3, and stores the acquired measurement value in the demand actual value storage unit 19 as a measurement value of the amount of power generated. The measurement value of the amount of power generated may be acquired by a metering device that measures only the amount of power generated, or may be a measurement value measured by a power generation facility, such as a measurement value of a power conditioner in a solar power generation facility. Furthermore, the actual value acquisition unit 18 acquires a measurement value related to the consumer facility 3 that is to be controlled by the control execution unit 17 from the consumer facility 3, and outputs the measurement value to the control execution unit 17. For example, the actual value acquisition unit 18 acquires a measurement value of the charging and discharging power of a storage battery in the consumer facility 3, and outputs the acquired measurement value to the control execution unit 17.

[0027] The demand forecasting unit 20 uses actual values ​​of the power demand of the consumer to forecast the power demand of the consumer for a certain period of time, which is a period for which an operation plan is to be created. The demand and power generation are forecast using the measured power amount and the measured power generation amount stored in the actual demand value storage unit 19. As shown in FIG. 1, the demand forecasting unit 20 includes a power generation amount forecasting unit 201 and a demand curve creation unit 202. The power generation amount forecasting unit 201 uses the measured power generation amount stored in the actual demand value storage unit 19 to forecast the power generation amount for each time period for the certain period for which an operation plan is to be created, and outputs the predicted power generation amount to the plan creation unit 14 as forecast information. Forecast information on weather, solar radiation, etc. acquired from a weather information providing device (not shown) may be used to forecast the power generation amount. The demand curve creation unit 202 uses the measured power amount stored in the actual demand value storage unit 19 to forecast a demand curve, which is the power consumption for each time period for a certain period of time, and outputs the predicted demand curve to the plan creation unit 14 as forecast information. The demand curve creation unit 202 may, for example, set the demand curve to an average value calculated for each time period for each day of the week, or for each division of weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, or may set the demand curve to an average value calculated for each time period divided by temperature. The method of predicting the amount of power generation and the method of predicting the demand curve are not limited to the above-mentioned examples, and any method may be used. Note that, for a consumer whose consumer facility 3 does not include a power generation facility, the demand prediction unit 20 may predict a demand curve.

[0028] The plan information transmission unit 21 transmits the operation plan (the above-mentioned first resource operation plan or the second resource operation plan) and the supply and demand plan for each consumer stored in the plan storage unit 16 as plan information to the retail business device 2. At this time, when information indicating an imbalance avoidance time zone associated with the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16 is stored, that is, when the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16 is the second resource operation plan, the plan information transmission unit 21 transmits the information indicating the imbalance avoidance time zone as fee information together with the operation plan to the retail business device 2. Also, when the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16 is not associated with information indicating an imbalance avoidance time zone, that is, when the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16 is the first resource operation plan, the plan information transmission unit 21 transmits information indicating that there is no imbalance avoidance time zone as fee information together with the operation plan to the retail business device 2.

[0029] The retailer device 2 settles the electricity charges of each consumer based on the fee information received from the power management device 1. That is, for a consumer who cooperated in avoiding imbalance during a time period, the settlement is made according to the consumer imbalance unit price for the shortage imbalance or surplus imbalance during that time period. In this embodiment, the power management device 1 uses the consumer imbalance unit price to create an operation plan that avoids imbalance when there is an advantage for the consumer. This increases the possibility that the retailer device 2 can avoid imbalance. Therefore, it is possible to suppress losses due to paying an imbalance fee when a shortage imbalance occurs or losses due to the difference between the procurement price and the purchase price of electricity when a surplus imbalance occurs, and the consumer can also obtain a profit.

[0030] In FIG. 1, the power management device 1 is a device managed by an aggregator. When the retailer and the aggregator are the same, the retailer device 2 and the power management device 1 may be integrated. That is, the power management device 1 shown in FIG. 1 may include a fee setting unit that sets a price signal based on a predicted value of the imbalance fee unit price based on the market price and a supply and demand plan. In this case, the imbalance information acquisition unit 13 acquires the price signal from the fee setting unit. Also, the power management device 1 may be a device managed by a large consumer such as a high-voltage consumer.

[0031] Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation plan creation process procedure in the power management device 1 of this embodiment. In the following, an example will be described in which the power resource is a storage battery, and a charge / discharge plan for the storage battery is created as an operation plan. The plan creation unit 14 of the power management device 1 sets consumers for which a plan is to be created (step S1). For example, the plan creation unit 14 may assign an order for creating an operation plan to each consumer in advance, or may create operation plans in the order of consumer identification information. In step S1, the consumer for which an operation plan is to be created first is set as the consumer for which a plan is to be created.

[0032] Next, the plan creation unit 14 of the power management device 1 creates a first resource operation plan for a certain period of time using the forecast information, facility information, and time-of-day electricity rates (step S2). In detail, the plan creation unit 14 creates a first resource operation plan for a target consumer for which a plan is to be created using the forecast information received from the demand forecast unit 20, the time-of-day electricity rates corresponding to the rate plan of the target consumer for which a plan is to be created, which are included in the consumer information stored in the consumer information storage unit 11, and the facility information stored in the facility information storage unit 12, and stores the plan in the plan storage unit 16. Here, the certain period is one day until the next day as described above, and the first resource operation plan determines the charge and discharge amount of the storage battery, which is a power resource, for 48 frames, with each frame being 30 minutes, for example.

[0033] The plan creation unit 14 creates a charge / discharge plan by determining the charge / discharge amount for each time period so as to minimize the objective function, for example, with the cost borne by the consumer as an objective function and facility information and other constraints. The objective function can be expressed as the following formula (1), for example, assuming that the t-th (t is an integer from 1 to 48) time period in a certain period, the unit price of electricity in the t-th time period in the consumer's rate plan is C(t), the demand curve is P(t), and the charge / discharge amount is B(t). B(t) is assumed to be a positive value in the case of charging and a negative value in the case of discharging. Note that formula (1) assumes a consumer who does not own a power generation facility such as a solar power generation facility, but for a consumer who owns a power generation facility, the power generation amount is also taken into account in the objective function. The objective function is not limited to formula (1) and may include other charges. Note that Σ in formula (1) indicates the sum of 1 to 48. Objective function=Σ{(P(t)+B(t))×C(t)} …(1)

[0034] The plan creation unit 14 calculates B(t) for each time period so as to minimize the objective function or so as to make the value of the objective function equal to or less than a predetermined value. As a result, for example, when a consumer's rate plan has a lower unit price for electricity at night than during the day, the consumer can reduce the cost borne by the consumer by charging part of the electricity consumed by the consumer during the day at night. Note that, although an example using an objective function is described here, the present invention is not limited to this example, and a charge / discharge plan may be created according to a predetermined rule to perform control called peak shifting or peak cutting. For example, this rule is a rule that the storage battery is discharged during a predetermined time period when the electricity rate is high and the storage battery is charged during a predetermined time period when the electricity rate is low, but is not limited to this example.

[0035] Next, the plan creation unit 14 of the power management device 1 creates a second resource operation plan for a certain period using the forecast information, facility information, time-of-day electricity rates, tolerance conditions, and price signals (step S3). In detail, the plan creation unit 14 creates a second resource operation plan for the target consumer for which the plan is to be created, using the forecast information received from the demand forecast unit 20, the time-of-day electricity rates corresponding to the rate plan of the target consumer for which the plan is to be created, included in the consumer information stored in the consumer information storage unit 11, the tolerance conditions indicated by the tolerance information included in the consumer information stored in the consumer information storage unit 11, and the facility information stored in the facility information storage unit 12, and stores the second resource operation plan in the plan storage unit 16.

[0036] The plan creation unit 14 creates the second resource operation plan by shifting the time period for discharging so that discharging is performed in the time period when the consumer imbalance unit price of the shortage imbalance is the highest within a certain period. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the second resource operation plan of this embodiment. The upper part of FIG. 3 shows a contract unit price 51, which is the unit price of electricity by time period, corresponding to the consumer's rate plan, and a consumer imbalance unit price 52 of the shortage imbalance. In the upper part of FIG. 3, the horizontal axis is time, and the vertical axis is unit price. The lower part of FIG. 3 shows a demand curve 53, which is the consumer's power consumption by time period, and a charging time period 54 and a discharging time period 55 in the first resource operation plan. As shown in FIG. 3, in the first resource operation plan, the storage battery is charged in the time period when the unit price of electricity is low in the demand curve 53, and discharged in the time period when the unit price of electricity is high in the demand curve 53, thereby suppressing the cost borne by the consumer. On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the consumer imbalance unit price of the shortage imbalance is highest in the time period from time tm. Therefore, the plan creation unit 14 creates the second resource operation plan, for example, by shifting the time period for discharging the storage battery from the discharging time period 55 in the first resource operation plan to a discharging time period 56 after time tm.

[0037] In this case, when a change is made from the first resource operation plan to avoid imbalance, a value obtained by multiplying the consumer imbalance unit price by the change amount of the amount of power to avoid imbalance (hereinafter, referred to as the imbalance avoidance change amount) is paid to the retailer. In the example shown in FIG. 3, since the discharge time period 55 and the discharge time period 56 overlap, the time period of the discharge time period 56 excluding the overlapping time period is the imbalance avoidance time period, and the amount of power discharged during the imbalance avoidance time period is the imbalance avoidance change amount. In the example shown in FIG. 3, since the total amount of power purchased by the consumer from the retailer during the time period when the contract unit price 51 is high does not change, the electricity rate based on the rate plan is the same as the first resource operation plan, and the profit is the value obtained by multiplying the consumer imbalance unit price of the shortage imbalance by the imbalance avoidance change amount. Therefore, the cost borne by the consumer is the value obtained by subtracting the value obtained by multiplying the consumer imbalance unit price of the shortage imbalance by the imbalance avoidance change amount from the electricity rate based on the rate plan.

[0038] In the example shown in FIG. 3, the consumer imbalance price of shortage imbalance is highest in the time period when the contract unit price 51 is high, but there are also cases where the consumer imbalance price of shortage imbalance is highest in the time period when the contract unit price 51 is high. In such a case, discharging the storage battery in the time period when the contract unit price 51 is low makes it impossible to discharge in the time period when the contract unit price 51 is high. Therefore, the plan creation unit 14 changes the discharge time when the unit price of electricity in the time period when discharge was scheduled in the first resource operation plan is lower than the consumer imbalance price of shortage imbalance, and does not change the discharge time when the unit price of electricity in the time period when discharge was scheduled in the first resource operation plan is equal to or higher than the consumer imbalance price of shortage imbalance. If the unit price of electricity for the time period during which discharge was scheduled to occur in the first resource operation plan is equal to or higher than the consumer imbalance unit price of shortage imbalance, the plan creation unit 14 may create a second resource operation plan, for example, to shift the discharge time to the time period during which the consumer imbalance unit price of shortage imbalance is highest among the time periods during which discharge is scheduled to occur in the first resource operation plan and the contract unit price 51 is the same.

[0039] Furthermore, in the first resource operation plan, if power remains stored in the storage battery even after discharging in the discharging time period 55, the second resource operation plan may be created by extending the discharging time period.

[0040] Similarly, for the surplus imbalance, the plan creation unit 14 can create the second resource operation plan by changing the charging time period to a time period in which the imbalance fee unit price of the surplus imbalance is the highest among the time periods in which the contract unit price 51 is low. Furthermore, when the imbalance fee unit price of the surplus imbalance is greater than 0 yen in a time period in which discharging is performed in the first resource operation plan, the plan creation unit 14 can create the second resource operation plan so that discharging is not performed in that time period.

[0041] Returning to the explanation of Fig. 2, the plan determination unit 15 judges whether or not a value obtained by subtracting a cost corresponding to the second resource operation plan from a cost corresponding to the first resource operation plan (cost borne by the consumer) is greater than a threshold value (step S4). The threshold value may be set to a value equal to or greater than 0. As described above, the plan storage unit 16 stores the first resource operation plan and the second resource operation plan together with their corresponding costs, and the plan determination unit 15 refers to the plan storage unit 16 to make the judgment in step S4.

[0042] If the answer is Yes in step S4, the plan determination unit 15 selects the second resource operation plan (step S5), determines whether the calculations for all consumers have been completed (step S7), and ends the operation plan creation process if the calculations for all consumers have been completed (step S7 Yes). In detail, in step S5, the plan creation unit 14 determines to use the second resource operation plan as the consumer operation plan, and deletes the first resource operation plan from the plan storage unit 16.

[0043] If the result of step S4 is No, the plan determination unit 15 selects the first resource operation plan (step S6) and proceeds to step S7. In detail, in step S6, the plan creation unit 14 determines to use the first resource operation plan as the operation plan of the consumer, and deletes the second resource operation plan from the plan storage unit 16.

[0044] If the result of step S7 is No, the consumer for which the plan is to be created is changed (step S8), and the process from step S2 is repeated. In detail, the plan determination unit 15 instructs the plan creation unit 14 to change the consumer for which the plan is to be created, and the plan creation unit 14 changes the consumer for which the plan is to be created.

[0045] Through the above process, an operation plan for the power resource of the consumer is created. In the above example, the imbalance is avoided by charging and discharging the storage battery. However, when the consumer's power consumption, i.e., the demand, can be adjusted, the imbalance may be avoided by changing the power consumption. In this case, the conditions under which the consumer can change the power consumption are defined as the allowable information in the consumer information. For example, in the case of a consumer that can shift the daytime power consumption up to a certain amount for a certain period of time, this certain amount and the certain period of time are included in the allowable information. This allows the plan determination unit 15 to create a second resource operation plan that reflects the imbalance avoidance to the extent that the consumer can handle. In this case, since the power management device 1 may not be able to directly control the load of the consumer, the consumer may adjust the consumer equipment 3 based on the second resource operation plan.

[0046] Also, for example, in a consumer having a storage battery, an operation schedule may be determined so that charging starts from the time when the unit price of electricity for each time period changes according to the rate plan subscribed to by each consumer, and the plan creation unit 14 may create a second resource operation plan by shifting back the time when charging of the storage battery starts within a range that satisfies constraints such as the capacity of the storage battery.

[0047] The price signal may be given as a unit price of electricity charges by time period. In this case, the price signal is set so that the total payment amount of the person who cooperates in avoiding the imbalance is not higher than that of the person who does not cooperate in avoiding the imbalance. For example, if the unit price set in the normal contract is 25 yen during the day and 10 yen at night, and the price signal is set to 40 yen during the day and 20 yen at night, the profit from peak shifting when the price signal is adopted will be higher than when the normal electricity rate is adopted, but the total electricity rate will be higher than when the price signal is not adopted, so this setting is not done. The definition of the price signal and the method of calculating the charge using the price signal are not limited to the above example, and the plan creation unit 14 may calculate the cost corresponding to the second resource operation plan according to the definition of the price signal set by the retailer and the method of calculating the charge using the price signal.

[0048] Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the second resource operation plan when avoiding excess imbalance. In the example shown in Fig. 4, a consumer imbalance unit price 57 of the excess imbalance is shown in the upper part. A first resource operation plan 58 and a second resource operation plan 59 are shown in the lower part of Fig. 4. In this case, the plan determination unit 15 increases the consumer's power consumption in the time period in which the consumer imbalance unit price 57 is set, and reduces the power consumption in another time period by that amount. This allows the consumer to obtain a profit according to the consumer imbalance unit price of the excess imbalance.

[0049] Next, a hardware configuration of the power management apparatus 1 of this embodiment will be described. In the power management apparatus 1 of this embodiment, a computer program in which processing in the power management apparatus 1 is described is executed on a computer system, causing the computer system to function as the power management apparatus 1. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a computer system that realizes the power management apparatus 1 of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, this computer system includes a control unit 101, an input unit 102, a storage unit 103, a display unit 104, a communication unit 105, and an output unit 106, which are connected via a system bus 107.

[0050] In FIG. 5, the control unit 101 is, for example, a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and executes a program in which the processing in the power management device 1 of the present embodiment is described. The input unit 102 is, for example, composed of a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and is used by a user of the computer system to input various information. The storage unit 103 includes various memories such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a storage device such as a hard disk, and stores the program to be executed by the control unit 101, necessary data obtained in the process of processing, and the like. The storage unit 103 is also used as a temporary storage area for the program. The display unit 104 is composed of a display, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display Panel), and the like, and displays various screens to the user of the computer system. The communication unit 105 is a receiver and a transmitter that perform communication processing. The output unit 106 is a printer, a speaker, and the like. Note that FIG. 5 is an example, and the configuration of the computer system is not limited to the example of FIG. 5.

[0051] Here, an example of the operation of the computer system until the program of this embodiment is in an executable state will be described. In the computer system having the above-mentioned configuration, for example, a computer program is installed in storage unit 103 from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM set in a CD (Compact Disc)-ROM drive or DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)-ROM drive (not shown). Then, when the program is executed, the program read from storage unit 103 is stored in the main storage area of ​​storage unit 103. In this state, control unit 101 executes the process as power management device 1 of this embodiment according to the program stored in storage unit 103.

[0052] In the above description, a program describing the processing in the power management device 1 is provided on a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM as a recording medium. However, this is not limited to this, and depending on the configuration of the computer system and the capacity of the program to be provided, for example, a program provided over a transmission medium such as the Internet via the communication unit 105 may be used.

[0053] The power management program of the present embodiment causes the computer system to execute, for example, the steps of acquiring a price signal and predicting the power demand of the consumer for a certain period of time using the actual value of the power demand of the consumer. The power management program of the present embodiment further causes the computer system to execute the steps of calculating an index relating to a profit when the consumer operates a power resource corresponding to imbalance avoidance in a certain period of time using a contract unit price, which is a unit price of electricity by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, the price signal, and the predicted result of the power demand, determining whether the consumer will avoid imbalance in the certain period of time using the index, and creating an operation plan for the consumer's power resource based on the result of this determination.

[0054] The plan creation unit 14, the plan determination unit 15, the control execution unit 17, and the demand forecast unit 20 shown in FIG. 1 are realized by executing a computer program stored in the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 5 by the control unit 101 shown in FIG. 5. The plan creation unit 14, the plan determination unit 15, the control execution unit 17, and the demand forecast unit 20 shown in FIG. 1 are realized by the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 5. The consumer information storage unit 11, the facility information storage unit 12, the plan storage unit 16, and the demand actual value storage unit 19 shown in FIG. 1 are part of the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 5. The imbalance information acquisition unit 13, the actual value acquisition unit 18, and the plan information transmission unit 21 shown in FIG. 1 are realized by the communication unit 105 shown in FIG. 5. The power management device 1 may be realized by a plurality of computer systems. For example, the power management device 1 may be realized by a cloud computer system.

[0055] As described above, in this embodiment, the power management device 1 creates an operation plan for the power resources of the consumers so as to reduce the costs borne by the consumers by using the price signal presented by the retailer. This makes it possible to reduce the occurrence of imbalances while taking into consideration the benefits of the consumers, thereby encouraging the consumers to cooperate in avoiding imbalances.

[0056] The configurations shown in the above embodiments are merely examples, and may be combined with other known technologies, or the embodiments may be combined with each other. Also, parts of the configurations may be omitted or modified without departing from the spirit of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0057] 1 power management device, 2 retail business device, 3 consumer equipment, 4 power management system, 11 consumer information memory unit, 12 equipment information memory unit, 13 imbalance information acquisition unit, 14 plan creation unit, 15 plan decision unit, 16 plan memory unit, 17 control execution unit, 18 actual value acquisition unit, 19 demand actual value memory unit, 20 demand forecasting unit, 21 plan information transmission unit, 22 operation plan creation unit, 171 command value creation unit, 172 command value transmission unit, 201 power generation forecasting unit, 202 demand curve creation unit.

Claims

1. an imbalance information acquisition unit that acquires a price signal, which is information determined based on the imbalance charge unit price and indicates the unit price of a consumer's profit for each time period when imbalance avoidance is performed using the consumer's power resources; A demand forecasting unit that forecasts the electric power demand of the consumer for a certain period of time using an actual value of the electric power demand of the consumer; an operation plan creation unit that calculates, for each consumer, an index related to a profit when the consumer operates the power resource corresponding to imbalance avoidance during the certain period using a contract unit price, which is a unit price of electricity by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, the price signal, and a prediction result by the demand prediction unit, determines whether the consumer will avoid imbalance during the certain period using the index, and creates an operation plan for the consumer's power resource during the certain period based on the result of this determination; A power management device comprising:

2. The power management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the power resource includes a storage battery.

3. The power management device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the index is a difference in cost borne by the consumer between a case in which the power resource is not operated in a manner that corresponds to imbalance avoidance and a case in which the power resource is operated in a manner that corresponds to imbalance avoidance.

4. The power management device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the operation plan creation unit creates the operation plan that reflects operation of the consumer to avoid imbalance when the consumer can benefit by avoiding the imbalance based on the index.

5. a fee setting unit that determines the price signal based on the imbalance fee unit price; 5. The power management device according to claim 1, further comprising:

6. a control execution unit that controls the power resources based on the operation plan; 6. The power management device according to claim 1, further comprising:

7. A power management device as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the certain period is one day the following day.

8. A power management device described in any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the price signal is determined by multiplying the imbalance fee unit price by a predetermined ratio.

9. a retailer device that determines a price signal, which is information determined based on the imbalance charge unit price and indicates the unit price of a consumer's profit for each time period when imbalance avoidance is performed using the consumer's power resources; A power management device that creates an operation plan for the power resource of the consumer; Equipped with The power management device includes: an imbalance information acquisition unit that acquires the price signal from the retailer device; A demand forecasting unit that forecasts the electric power demand of the consumer for a certain period of time using an actual value of the electric power demand of the consumer; an operation plan creation unit that calculates, for each consumer, an index related to a profit when the consumer operates the power resource corresponding to imbalance avoidance during the certain period using a contract unit price, which is a unit price of electricity by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, the price signal, and a prediction result by the demand prediction unit, determines whether the consumer will avoid imbalance during the certain period using the index, and creates an operation plan for the consumer's power resource during the certain period based on the result of this determination; A power management system comprising:

10. In the computer system, A step of acquiring a price signal, which is information determined based on the imbalance charge unit price and indicates the unit price of a consumer's profit for each time period when imbalance avoidance is performed using the consumer's power resources; forecasting the power demand of the consumer for a certain period of time using an actual value of the power demand of the consumer; a step of calculating, for each consumer, an index relating to the profit when the consumer operates the power resource corresponding to imbalance avoidance during the certain period using a contract unit price, which is a unit price of electricity by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, the price signal, and the forecast result of the power demand, determining whether the consumer will avoid imbalance during the certain period using the index, and creating an operation plan for the consumer's power resource during the certain period based on the result of this determination; A power management program that causes a power management system to execute the above steps.

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