Utility portals for managing demand-response events
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Solution Overview
Problem
Utility companies face challenges in managing peak electricity demand due to limited tools for intuitive and flexible management of demand response events, leading to consumer discomfort and potential undermining of demand response programs.
Innovation Solution
The development of utility portals that enable utility companies to communicate with energy management systems to implement demand response events through network-connected thermostats, allowing for energy shifting and providing intuitive interfaces for scheduling and managing demand response events.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If utility companies implement demand response events by directly controlling cooling systems, then peak demand is reduced, but consumer comfort deteriorates and program integrity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an energy management system as an intermediary between the utility company and consumer cooling systems. This intermediary uses network-connected thermostats to implement demand response events intelligently, pre-cooling residences before peak demand periods and adjusting temperatures during events while maintaining consumer comfort. The system mediates between utility objectives and consumer needs, preventing the direct control issues that cause discomfort and program undermining.
2Power
If utility companies build additional power plants to satisfy peak demand, then supply capacity increases, but cost and efficiency worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements pre-cooling of residences before anticipated peak demand periods. By lowering thermostat setpoints in advance when demand is lower, the thermal mass of buildings stores cooling energy, allowing cooling systems to be reduced or shut off during peak demand periods. This preliminary action eliminates the need for additional power plant capacity during peaks while maintaining consumer comfort, avoiding the high costs and inefficiencies of building idle peak-power infrastructure.
3Productivity
If utility companies implement load shedding during peak demand, then peak demand is reduced, but energy consumption shifts to post-event periods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent shifts energy consumption to pre-event periods through pre-cooling strategies rather than allowing post-event rebound. By lowering temperatures before demand response events and using building thermal mass to maintain comfort during events, the system achieves peak demand reduction without creating post-event consumption spikes. This temporal redistribution of energy use avoids the rebound effect that characterizes traditional load shedding.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes generating a utility portal interface in response to a request from a utility computer system that receives parameters that specify a demand response event; providing a display of groups of energy-consuming locations that are available to be selected to participate in the demand response event; providing a display of an energy demand profile for the utility during the demand response event; receiving a selection of a subset of the groups of energy-consuming locations to participate in the demand response event; causing the display of the energy demand profile for the utility during the demand response event to be dynamically updated as the subset of the groups of energy-consuming locations are selected or deselected by the utility computer system to participate; and sending transmissions to thermostats associated with the subset of the groups of energy-consuming locations to execute the demand response event.