Community Power Sharing Incentives for Off-Grid Supply Balance
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Solution Overview
Problem
In off-grid Community Energy Management Systems (CEMS), power imbalances between households can lead to situations where some households are consistently short of power while others have excess, with existing systems failing to efficiently distribute energy to alleviate these imbalances, potentially leaving some households in a persistent power shortage.
Innovation Solution
A supply-and-demand management apparatus and method that utilizes a shared battery and an operation management server to connect households via a communication network, allowing power sharing and incentivizing energy distribution based on usage patterns and relationships between households, using incentives such as non-monetary rewards or monetary compensation to encourage energy transfer from households with surplus to those in need.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If power is supplied exclusively from one household with surplus to another household in need, then the power shortage of the receiving household is resolved, but other households with power demand remain unserved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the power supply function by introducing a management server that coordinates multiple households independently. Instead of one-to-one direct supply, the system divides the community into multiple supply-demand pairs managed separately, allowing household A to supply to both household B and C simultaneously through centralized coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
The management server acts as an intermediary that receives power supply requests from multiple demand households, matches them with supply households, and coordinates the distribution. This mediator enables household A's surplus power to be efficiently allocated to multiple households (B, C, D) rather than being limited to a single recipient.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a shared battery is introduced to store and distribute power, then power can be redistributed to households in need, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The shared battery serves multiple functions: storing surplus power from households with excess generation, providing power to households with deficits, and enabling time-shifting of energy supply. This multi-functional component increases distribution flexibility without requiring separate systems for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The management server simplifies the complex battery management by acting as an intermediary that handles charging/discharging decisions, state-of-charge monitoring, and coordination between multiple households. This abstracts the complexity from individual households while enabling versatile power redistribution.
3Productivity
If incentives are provided to encourage power sharing, then households are motivated to share surplus power, but the management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where households receive information about their power supply contributions and corresponding incentives. The management server monitors power transfer amounts, calculates incentive eligibility, and provides feedback to participants, motivating continued participation while automating the management process.
Solution Approach 2:
Households autonomously decide whether to share their surplus power based on incentive information provided by the system. The management server automatically matches supply and demand, calculates incentives, and executes transactions without requiring manual intervention from each household, reducing management overhead while maintaining high participation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively manages power distribution within the community, preventing persistent power shortages by incentivizing energy transfer from households with surplus to those in need, thereby maintaining a balanced energy supply and demand within the community.
Implementation Method 1
a shared battery 20 and an operation management server 100
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a supply-and-demand management apparatus including: a result management unit that manages a power supply result indicating a result of power supplied among a plurality of customers of a community; and a deriving unit that derives, based on power supply results from a first customer to other customers from among the plurality of customers, an incentive to supply power from the first customer to a second customer from among the other customers.