Peak Resource Scheduling for Equitable Grid Demand Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Resource distribution systems face challenges during extreme weather or critical peak demand periods where demand outpaces production capabilities, leading to rolling outages that are difficult to manage and inequitable across all premises.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a peak resource management schedule that assigns staggered peak and limited consumption periods to premises, controlled by metering devices, to reduce overall consumption levels and avoid rolling outages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If rolling outages are implemented to avoid system-wide blackouts during peak demand, then system reliability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates and equity across premises worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the customer base into multiple groups and implements staggered peak demand management schedules for each group. Instead of a uniform rolling outage affecting all premises sequentially, different premises are assigned different time windows for peak consumption limits, creating a distributed approach that maintains system reliability while improving operational fairness and ease of management.
2Reliability
If rolling outages are implemented to avoid system-wide blackouts, then system reliability is improved, but equity across premises deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides customers into multiple groups with staggered peak demand schedules, ensuring that not all premises experience outages simultaneously. This segmentation creates equitable treatment by distributing the burden of peak demand management across different time periods for different premises, while maintaining system reliability through coordinated load management.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by tailoring peak demand management schedules to specific premises or groups of premises based on their individual characteristics, consumption patterns, and geographic location. Each premise receives a customized schedule that considers local conditions, ensuring fair and equitable treatment while contributing to overall system reliability.
3Reliability
If peak resource consumption levels are reduced to manage demand, then resource distribution reliability is improved, but productivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic action by establishing recurring peak demand management schedules that activate during specific time windows. Instead of continuous restrictions, the system applies consumption limits periodically during peak periods and relaxes them during off-peak periods, allowing premises to maintain normal productivity levels when resources are abundant while ensuring reliability during peak demand periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies dynamics by making resource consumption limits flexible and adaptive rather than fixed. The peak demand management schedules dynamically adjust based on real-time system conditions, weather forecasts, and predicted demand patterns, allowing the system to optimize between reliability and productivity by activating restrictions only when and where needed.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method includes assigning, by a peak management system, a peak resource management schedule to a first premises and a second premises within a resource distribution network. The peak resource management schedule includes a first peak consumption period and a first limited resource consumption period for the first premises and a second peak consumption period and a second limited resource consumption period for the second premises, where the first peak consumption period and the second peak consumption period are different. The method also includes transmitting, by the peak management system, a peak resource management signal to the first premises and the second premises. The peak resource management signal includes instructions to commence execution of the peak resource management schedule at the first premises and the second premises.