Patent ID: 9496754
Filing Date: 2016-11-15
CPC Classification: H02J,Y02B,Y04S

Claim Text:
1. A power management system for a plant electrical network including power distribution equipment, power actuators, local generators and loads of an industrial plant, the system comprising: a plant-wide communication network; and a plurality of controllers for power management in the plant electrical network, wherein the plurality of controllers are communicatively interconnected via the plant-wide communication network, wherein a first controller from the plurality of controllers is configured for power management in a first local process area within the plant electrical network by controlling power distribution equipment in the first local process area, wherein at least a second controller from the plurality of controllers is configured for power management in a second local process area within the plant electrical network by controlling power distribution equipment in the second local process area, wherein at least one controller of the first controller and the second controller is configured to operate according to an operation mode determined based on at least one of (i) collected electrical connectivity status between the first local process area and the second local process area in the plant electrical network, and (ii) communication connectivity status information between the first controller and the second controller on the plant wide communication network, wherein the at least one controller is configured to perform power balance computations for the respective local process area in accordance with the operation mode of the at least one controller, wherein the at least one controller is configured to perform the power management in the respective local process area based on the results of the power balance computations by providing commands for load shedding of the power distribution equipment in the respective local process area to maintain a power balance condition in the respective local process area, and wherein the at least one controller is configured to perform the power management based on priority definitions associated with loads in the respective local process area.