Information processing device and method of operating the information processing device

Abstract

To more reliably avoid shortages in the amount of electricity to be purchased whose reservation is made to a power system.SOLUTION: An information processing device includes a communication unit and a control unit that communicates via the communication unit. The control unit determines, based on a prediction of electricity consumption in a jurisdiction over a predetermined period including multiple time units, the amount of electricity to be purchased from a power system and the amount of electricity generated or discharged by distributed power sources, to cover the consumption. After sending information for reserving the amount to be purchased, if the consumption corresponding to a first time unit is predicted to be below a standard, the control unit increases the amount of electricity generated in the first time unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

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[0001] This disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus and an operation method thereof.

Background Art

[0002] In communities managed by local governments, companies, etc., the charging and discharging of various power sources scattered within the community, the power supply by the power grid of the power company (hereinafter simply referred to as the grid), and the power demand generated within the community are managed as a whole, and the concept of a community EMS (Energy Management System) is being promoted. Various technologies for managing the power supply and demand within a community have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for formulating a plan to adjust at least one of the consumption time zone and the consumption power amount of an operation that can be adjusted when the power demand may exceed a target value.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Means for more reliably avoiding a shortage in the reserved power purchase amount from the grid are required.

[0005] This disclosure relates to an information processing apparatus and the like that enables more reliably avoiding a shortage in the reserved power purchase amount from the grid.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The information processing device in this disclosure includes a communication unit and a control unit that communicates via the communication unit. The control unit determines, based on a forecast of electricity consumption in a district over a predetermined period including multiple time units, the amount of electricity to be purchased from the grid, the amount of electricity to be sold to the grid, the amount of electricity generated by distributed power sources, the amount of electricity to be discharged, or the amount of electricity to be charged, in order to cover the consumption and sell any surplus electricity to the grid. After sending information to reserve the purchase and sale amounts, if the consumption corresponding to a first time unit is predicted to be less than a standard, the control unit increases the amount of electricity generated and discharged, or decreases the amount of electricity to be charged, in that first time unit. If the consumption corresponding to a first time unit is predicted to be greater than a standard, the control unit decreases the amount of electricity generated and discharged, or increases the amount of electricity to be charged, in that first time unit.

[0007] The method of operation of the information processing device in this disclosure is as follows: A process of determining, based on a forecast of electricity consumption in a district over a predetermined period including multiple time units, the amount of electricity to be purchased from the grid, the amount of electricity to be sold to the grid, the amount of electricity to be generated, discharged, or charged by distributed power sources, in order to cover the said consumption and sell any surplus generated electricity to the grid, After sending information for reserving the purchase and sale quantities, if it is predicted that the consumption corresponding to the first time unit will be less than the standard, the process involves increasing the power generation and discharge amounts or decreasing the charge amount in the first time unit, and if it is predicted that the consumption corresponding to the first time unit will be greater than the standard, the process involves decreasing the power generation and discharge amounts or increasing the charge amount in the first time unit. Includes. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] The information processing device and other devices described in this disclosure make it possible to more reliably avoid shortages in the amount of electricity reserved for purchase in the grid. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This diagram shows an example of a power management system configuration. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart illustrating an example of server device operation. [Figure 3] This figure shows a schematic example of a power supply plan. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] The embodiments will be described below.

[0011] [Example of system configuration] Figure 1 shows an example configuration of a power management system in one embodiment. The power management system 1 is a system for supporting a community in efficiently purchasing electricity from the power company's grid. A community is a district managed by a local government, company, etc., and is based on any block or region. The power management system 1 has one or more server devices 10 and energy resources 13 within the community, which are connected to each other via a network 11 in a manner that enables information communication. The server device 10 corresponds to the "information processing device" in this embodiment. The energy resources 13 include power loads 15 and distributed power sources 16 distributed within the community. The electricity consumed by the power loads 15 is supplied from the grid 18 or from the distributed power sources 16.

[0012] The server device 10 is, for example, a server computer belonging to a cloud computing system or other computing system and operating as a CEMS (Community EMS) server. The network 11 is, for example, the internet, but includes ad hoc networks, LANs, MANs (Metropolitan Area Networks), other networks, or any combination thereof. The power load 15 consists of electrical appliances, lighting, air conditioning equipment, etc., installed in residences, commercial facilities, etc. The power load 15 may also include vehicles such as electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles powered by battery power, and charging stations for such vehicles. The distributed power source 16 includes power generation devices using alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power, fuel cells, storage batteries, etc. The distributed power source 16 may also include batteries for electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, etc., and discharge stations for discharging battery power. The operation of the power load 15 and the distributed power source 16 is managed or controlled by power conditioners, smart meters, etc., which are connected to the network 11 and configured to communicate information. Information regarding the operation of the power load 15 and the distributed power supply 16 is transmitted to and from the server device 10 via the network 11 by a power conditioner, smart meter, etc.

[0013] In this embodiment, the server device 10 includes a communication unit 101 and a control unit 103 that communicates via the communication unit 101. Based on a forecast of the amount of electricity consumed in the district over a predetermined period (e.g., 24 hours, hereinafter referred to as the target period) including multiple time units (e.g., 0.5 to 1 hour units), the control unit 103 determines the amount of electricity to be purchased from the grid 18, the amount of electricity to be sold to the grid 18, the amount of electricity generated, discharged, or charged by the distributed power sources 16, in order to cover the consumption and sell any surplus generated electricity to the grid 18. After sending out information to reserve the purchase and sale amounts, if the consumption corresponding to the first time unit is predicted to be less than a standard, the control unit 103 increases the amount of electricity generated and discharged, or decreases the amount of charge in that first time unit. If the consumption corresponding to the first time unit is predicted to be greater than a standard, the control unit 103 decreases the amount of electricity generated and discharged, or increases the amount of charge in that first time unit. When a community reserves the purchase of electricity from grid 18 for a specified period at least a certain time (e.g., one day) before the period begins, depending on the contract with the power company, additional charges may be imposed for changes to the purchase amount after the reservation. In this respect, according to this embodiment, by storing the electricity generated by the distributed power source 16 during time periods when consumption is relatively small, it becomes possible to have electricity available for use during time periods when consumption is relatively large and there is a risk of electricity supply shortages. Therefore, it becomes possible to more reliably avoid shortages of the amount of electricity reserved from grid 18.

[0014] [Example of server device configuration] The server device 10 includes a communication unit 101, a storage unit 102, and a control unit 103. The server device 10 is, for example, a single computer. Alternatively, the server device 10 may consist of two or more computers that are connected in a way that enables information communication and operate in cooperation. In that case, each unit is appropriately arranged on the two or more computers.

[0015] The communication unit 101 includes one or more communication interfaces. The communication interface is, for example, a LAN interface. The communication unit 101 receives information used for the operation of the server device 10 and transmits information obtained through the operation of the server device 10. The server device 10 is connected to the network 11 by the communication unit 101 and communicates information with the vehicle 12 or the charging / discharging device 14 via the network 11.

[0016] The storage unit 102 includes, for example, one or more semiconductor memories, one or more magnetic memories, one or more optical memories, or a combination of at least two of these, which function as main memory, auxiliary memory, or cache memory. The semiconductor memory is, for example, RAM (Random Access Memory) or ROM (Read Only Memory). The RAM is, for example, SRAM (Static RAM) or DRAM (Dynamic RAM). The ROM is, for example, EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM). The storage unit 102 stores information used for the operation of the server device 10 and information obtained by the operation of the server device 10.

[0017] The control unit 103 includes one or more processors, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. The processors are, for example, general-purpose processors such as CPUs (Central Processing Units) or dedicated processors such as GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) specialized for specific processing. The dedicated circuits are, for example, FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays) or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits). The control unit 103 controls each part of the server device 10 and performs information processing related to the operation of the server device 10.

[0018] The functions of the server device 10 are realized by executing a control program with a processor included in the control unit 103. The control program is a program for causing a computer to execute the processing of the steps included in the operation of the server device 10, thereby causing the computer to realize the functions corresponding to the processing of those steps. That is, the control program is a program for causing a computer to function as the server device 10. Also, some or all of the functions of the server device 10 may be realized by dedicated circuits included in the control unit 103. Further, the control program may be stored in a non-transitory recording and storage medium readable by the server device 10, and the server device 10 may read it from the medium.

[0019] [Operation Example of Server Device] FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation procedure of the server device 10. Each step shown in FIG. 2 is executed by the control unit 103. The procedure in FIG. 2 is executed, for example, at an arbitrary time before the start of the power purchase market each day, at an arbitrary cycle, for example, a 30-minute cycle.

[0020] In step S20, the control unit 103 predicts the power consumption of the community during the target period. The target period is, for example, 24 hours from 0:00 to 24:00 two days after the current date. The control unit 103 acquires power information from the energy resource 13 and predicts the power consumption based on the power information. The power information is, for example, the history of the power consumption due to the power load 15 and the power supply amount due to the distributed power source 16 in the recent one to several days. The power consumption is the amount of power supplied from the grid 18 and consumed by the power load 15. Also, the power supply amount is the amount of power generated by the power generation device included in the distributed power source 16 or discharged from the storage battery and supplied to the energy resource 13. The control unit 103 predicts the power consumption by using, for example, the average over several days or the time-weighted average of the power consumption, and by an arbitrary algorithm.

[0021] In step S21, the control unit 103 checks whether a power supply plan has been created. The created power supply plan is stored in the storage unit 102. If it has been created (Yes), the control unit 103 proceeds to step S22. If it has not been created (No), the control unit 103 proceeds to step S29 to create a power supply plan. For example, based on the power information obtained from the energy resource 13, the control unit 103 determines the purchase amount, power generation amount, discharge amount, or charge amount for the target period by any algorithm. The power supply plan has values of power consumption, power purchase amount, power generation amount, discharge amount, or charge amount (all in, for example, kWh units) for each one-hour time unit "00:00 - 01:00", "01:00 - 02:00", "02:00 - 03:00", ··· "21:00 - 22:00", "22:00 - 23:00", "23:00 - 24:00" as shown in, for example, table 30 of FIG. 3. The control unit 103 determines the power purchase amount, power selling amount, power generation amount, or charge / discharge amount that minimizes the following objective function F on the condition that the sum of the power purchase amount, power generation amount, and discharge amount exceeds the predicted power consumption for each time unit. F = KPI×α + IBC×β KPI is the cost obtained by offsetting the revenue from selling surplus power against the costs associated with power generation and charge / discharge. IBC is the cost associated with the imbalance of additional power purchases. α and β are coefficients (α > β and α + β = 1).

[0022] In step S22, the control unit 103 determines whether there is a power surplus in the power supply plan. Power surplus is a time unit in which the power consumption is less than an arbitrary standard. The arbitrary standard is, for example, the amount of power that can cover the consumption without adding the discharge amount of the storage battery that was scheduled to be discharged in that time unit. Specifically, the standard is an arbitrary value such as 80% to 90% of the total amount of purchased power and generated power, which is obtained by subtracting the discharge amount of the storage battery from the power supplied in that time unit. Note that a time unit in which the power consumption is greater than or equal to the standard corresponds to a power shortage time. If there is a power surplus (Yes), the control unit 103 proceeds to step S23. If there is no power surplus (No), the control unit 103 skips step S23 and proceeds to step S24.

[0023] In step S23, the control unit 103 increases the amount of power generated during the power surplus time. The amount of increase can be set arbitrarily. For example, the amount of increase is an arbitrary value such as 80% to 90% of the smaller of the amount of electricity that can be charged by the rechargeable battery included in the distributed power source 16 and the amount of electricity that the power generation equipment can additionally generate. The rechargeable battery is a battery in an idling state or a battery that was scheduled to discharge in that unit time. Furthermore, when deriving the amount of power generated by the solar power generation equipment, for example, the control unit 103 can obtain information on the amount of sunshine during the power surplus time in the target period from a server that provides weather information and derive the amount of power generated according to the amount of sunshine. Note that if the control unit 103 identifies multiple power surplus times, it may increase the amount of power generated for each power surplus time, or it may increase the amount of power generated in any unit time, for example, the unit time with the smallest predicted consumption.

[0024] In step S24, the control unit 103 determines the power supply plan. The control unit 103 stores the determined power supply plan in the storage unit 102.

[0025] In step S25, the control unit 103 checks whether a power purchase reservation has been made. If it has not been made (Yes), the control unit 103 proceeds to step S26. If it has not been made (No), i.e., if it has already been made, the control unit 103 proceeds to step S28.

[0026] In step S26, the control unit 103 checks whether the reservation time for the electricity purchase reservation has arrived. The reservation time is, for example, noon two days before the target period. The control unit 103 may also determine that the reservation time has arrived if the current time is within any time up to any time before the reservation time (for example, one hour). If the reservation time has arrived (Yes), the control unit 103 proceeds to step S27. If the reservation time has not arrived (No), the control unit 103 terminates this process.

[0027] In step S27, the control unit 103 sends reservation information to reserve the amount of electricity to be purchased, which is included in the power supply plan. The control unit 103 sends the reservation information to the power company's server, for example. This reserves the purchase of electricity for the period in question.

[0028] In step S28, the control unit 103 sends an instruction to execute the power supply plan. The control unit 103 then completes the procedure shown in Figure 2. The instruction to execute the power supply plan includes information on the amount of electricity to be purchased and sold per hour, the amount of electricity to be generated or charged / discharged, and information identifying the distributed power sources 16 that should generate electricity and charge / discharge electricity, respectively. Furthermore, such an instruction includes information on the amount of electricity to be generated or charged electricity during the power surplus time, and information identifying the distributed power sources 16 that should generate electricity and charge electricity, respectively. In response to such an instruction, the distributed power sources 16 perform generation, discharge, and charging, so that surplus electricity is stored in the battery during the power surplus time, making it possible to prepare for power shortages during power shortage times. Thus, it becomes possible to more reliably avoid shortages of the amount of electricity reserved in the grid 18.

[0029] As described above, embodiments have been explained based on various drawings and examples, but it should be noted that those skilled in the art will find it easy to make various modifications and alterations based on this disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and alterations are within the scope of this disclosure. For example, the functions, etc., included in each means, each step, etc., can be rearranged in a logically consistent manner, and multiple means, steps, etc., can be combined into one or divided. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] 1. Power Management System 10 Server devices 11 Network 13 Energy Resources 15 Power load 16 Distributed power supply 18 strains 101 Communications Department 102 Storage section 103 Control Unit

Claims

1. Communications Department and, It has a control unit that communicates via the aforementioned communication unit, Based on a forecast of electricity consumption in the district over a predetermined period including multiple time units, the control unit determines the amount of electricity to be purchased from the grid, the amount of electricity to be sold to the grid, the amount of electricity generated, discharged, or charged by distributed power sources, in order to cover the consumption and sell any surplus electricity to the grid. After sending out information to reserve the purchase and sale amounts, if the consumption corresponding to the first time unit is predicted to be below a standard, the control unit increases the amount of electricity generated and discharged, or decreases the charge amount for that first time unit. If the consumption corresponding to the first time unit is predicted to be greater than the standard, the control unit decreases the amount of electricity generated and discharged, or increases the charge amount for that first time unit. Information processing device.

2. In claim 1, The control unit sends the increased or decreased amount of power generation, the amount of discharge, and instructions to the distributed power sources to generate, discharge, and charge the said discharge amount. Information processing device.

3. In claim 1, The control unit sends an instruction to the battery to store the amount of power generated corresponding to the first time unit. Information processing device.

4. In claim 1, The control unit determines the amount of power generated, the amount discharged, the amount charged, the amount purchased, or the amount sold so as to minimize a function that calculates the total cost, with the cost of power generation, the cost of purchase, and the revenue from sales as variables. Information processing device.

5. A method for operating an information processing device, A process of determining, based on a forecast of electricity consumption in a district over a predetermined period including multiple time units, the amount of electricity to be purchased from the grid, the amount of electricity to be sold to the grid, the amount of electricity to be generated, discharged, or charged by distributed power sources, in order to cover the said consumption and sell any surplus generated electricity to the grid, After sending information for reserving the purchase and sale quantities, if it is predicted that the consumption corresponding to the first time unit will be less than the standard, the process involves increasing the power generation and discharge amounts or decreasing the charge amount in the first time unit, and if it is predicted that the consumption corresponding to the first time unit will be greater than the standard, the process involves decreasing the power generation and discharge amounts or increasing the charge amount in the first time unit. A method of operation that includes this.

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