Virtual Energy Storage Accounting for Smart Grid Trading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current smart grid systems lack the flexibility and user convenience in managing and trading renewable energy, particularly in balancing energy supply and demand, leading to inefficiencies and monetary losses due to differences in electricity sales and purchase prices.
Innovation Solution
An information processing apparatus that records and manages 'virtually-stored electric energy' for users, allowing them to borrow energy from the grid when needed and return it when surplus, using a blockchain-based system to facilitate energy trading and storage, thereby improving user convenience and grid stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users frequently purchase and sell electricity in the smart grid, then user flexibility in energy trading is improved, but monetary losses increase due to price differences between sales and purchases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by storing excess electricity generated by users in advance within the virtual storage unit before any purchase or sale operations occur. This pre-stored energy serves as a buffer that eliminates the need for frequent reactive purchases and sales, thereby maintaining trading flexibility while avoiding monetary losses from price fluctuations.
2Device complexity
If the smart grid manages energy supply and demand without virtual storage, then system complexity is reduced, but user convenience in borrowing and returning energy is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of physical energy storage in the form of a virtual storage unit within the information processing apparatus. This virtual storage replicates the functionality of physical batteries or reservoirs without requiring actual physical infrastructure, thereby maintaining user convenience for borrowing and returning energy while keeping the physical system complexity low.
3Productivity
If users store excess renewable energy in physical storage devices, then energy utilization efficiency is improved, but device complexity and infrastructure requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes the mechanical/physical storage system with an information-based virtual storage system. Instead of requiring physical batteries, reservoirs, or other mechanical energy storage infrastructure, the system uses data structures and information processing to represent and manage stored energy, thereby maintaining high energy utilization efficiency while eliminating complex physical infrastructure requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
In the information processing apparatus, the virtually-stored electric energy amount of the one of the users stored in the first memory storage unit is configured to be arithmetically increased according to an amount of electric energy that is output from an electrical equipment unit associated with the one of the users to the smart grid and to be arithmetically reduced according to an amount of electric energy that is output from the smart grid to the electrical equipment unit associated with the one of the users.