Demand Response System for Customer Flexibility Aggregation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electric power supply-demand adjustment systems face challenges in aggregating flexibility from customers with discontinuous processes, such as factories, which often fail to reduce power consumption during designated time slots due to human intervention and operational issues, leading to incomplete fulfillment of supply-demand adjustment requests, especially as the number of participating customers increases.
Innovation Solution
An electric power supply-demand adjustment system that uses a computer with a processor and memory to control power consumption by obtaining a combination of shiftable processes within an acceptable range to generate demand response requests, determining the necessary shift width for each customer based on customer profile information and response data, allowing for precise power reduction and aggregation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If existing methods aggregate customers for demand response, then the number of participating customers increases, but the ability to fulfill requested power adjustment amounts decreases due to discontinuous processes and operational constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the demand response program into two distinct phases: a registration phase where customers declare their flexibility capabilities in advance, and an execution phase where actual demand response events are conducted. This segmentation allows the system to build a reliable database of customer capabilities beforehand, enabling better matching of customers to suitable DR events and improving overall fulfillment rates while maintaining high participation numbers.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by having customers register their flexibility characteristics, available time slots, and operational constraints before demand response events occur. This advance registration creates a pre-screened pool of participants with known capabilities, allowing the aggregator to select appropriate customers for specific DR events and predict fulfillment outcomes more accurately.
2Productivity
If demand response events are applied to defined customers at the same time, then aggregation efficiency improves, but customers with partial flexibility cannot participate, reducing overall flexibility aggregation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention enables partial participation in demand response events by allowing customers to contribute only the portions of flexibility they can deliver within their operational constraints. During the registration phase, customers specify their available time slots and flexibility amounts, and the system accepts these partial contributions. This allows customers with discontinuous processes or operational limitations to participate meaningfully rather than being excluded entirely.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically matches customers to demand response events based on their registered flexibility characteristics, available time slots, and event requirements. Rather than applying a static all-or-nothing approach, the system flexibly assigns customers to events where their partial flexibility can be effectively utilized, optimizing both aggregation efficiency and adaptability to diverse customer capabilities.
3Reliability
If the system requires complete fulfillment of power adjustment requests, then reliability of individual events improves, but the number of eligible customers decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the customer pool and demand response events to enable matching based on partial fulfillment capabilities. By separating customer registration from event execution and allowing customers to specify their available flexibility portions, the system can aggregate multiple partial contributions to meet overall DR targets while maintaining high participation from customers with varying levels of flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the parameter of fulfillment from binary (complete or none) to continuous (partial contributions allowed). Customers can register specific amounts of flexibility and time slots they can provide, and the system aggregates these varying parameters to achieve overall demand response targets. This parameter change expands the eligible customer base while maintaining reliable aggregate fulfillment.
Data Source
AI summary
In an electric power supply-demand adjustment system for performing electric power supply-demand adjustment by causing, by using a computer including a processor and memory, customers to control power consumption in accordance with an instruction issued by an aggregator, the processor, on the basis of demand response (DR) event information stored in the memory and including a scheduled event regarding the electric power supply-demand adjustment, and customer profile information stored in the memory and indicating a feature of a time-shiftable process performed by the customers consuming electric power, obtains a combination of processes shifted within an acceptable range, in which combination a power reduction amount fulfills a requested adjustment amount, to generate, for each of the customers, DR request information including a request for supply-demand adjustment of a power adjustment amount determined by the scheduled DR event, and determines a width of the shift to carry out electric power supply-demand adjustment.