Abstract:
The present invention is directed to a system and method for quantifying, measuring and verifying the results of demand side energy management programs in a smart grid by the selection of a smart grid device from the universe of smart grid devices participating in the demand side energy management program by a selecting energy collection server and collecting data from the selected smart grid device in order to reduce the load on the network. An agent resident on the selected smart grid device transmits data to the selecting energy collection server which utilizes the data to verify the demand side energy management program.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application is a continuation application of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/507,586, filed Jul. 13, 2011, for Probabilistic Measurement and Verification, by Bradley Kayton and Jon Rappaport, included by reference herein and for which benefit of the priority date is hereby claimed. 
     
    
     FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
       [0002]    Not applicable. 
       SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM 
       [0003]    Not applicable. 
       FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0004]    The present invention relates to electrical energy systems and, more particularly, to smart electrical grids. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    Increasingly, energy efficiency programs are being considered energy resources, like generation, and consequently are built into integrated resource plans to meet forecasted load. The challenge is that most are unmetered resources. The impact the programs have in aggregate on meeting energy demand must be ascertained through evaluation, measurement and verification. 
         [0006]    Existing energy systems are plagued by high variability in demand for power and the lack of effective control over the demand. For example, peak electrical consumption (in terms of wattage) is much higher than average consumption, but the total duration of peak consumption is relatively short. It can be costly to maintain the surge capacity that is only needed during peak consumption periods. As a result, utility companies often impose brown-outs and/or black-outs when capacity is insufficient. This practice has many negative impacts on the residents and businesses in the service area. 
         [0007]    Some research has been done in recent years to develop more cost effective and less intrusive methods for easing the strains on existing energy systems. For example, studies have shown that there is a high level of flexibility in actual consumer requirements, and therefore it is possible in theory to reduce peak consumption without depriving consumers of energy they are unwilling to give up. 
         [0008]    One conventional approach is to encourage consumers to conserve energy voluntarily by increasing their awareness of energy consumption. For example, studies have shown that information about energy consumption of consumers relative to their neighbors can cause high consumers to dramatically reduce their consumption. Also, studies conducted in California showed that consumers given a “mood ring” that indicates in real time the stress on the power grid dramatically reduced their peak-time consumption. 
         [0009]    Another conventional approach is to use energy pricing, either in real or virtual currency, to gauge each consumer&#39;s willingness to reduce consumption. In these so-called market-based systems, the price of energy is allowed to fluctuate in real time based on actual demand, which provides an economic incentive for consumers to reduce consumption when the actual demand is high. The rationale behind these systems is that the price a consumer is willing to pay for energy is inversely related to the consumer&#39;s willingness to reduce energy consumption, so that a consumer who is more willing to reduce energy consumption will do so at a lower price point compared to another consumer who is less willing to reduce energy consumption. Thus, as the market finds equilibrium, the system approaches a desired state where each consumer reduces energy consumption only to the extent he is willing. 
         [0010]    Conventional systems have also been developed to control energy demand related to heating and/or cooling in a building. Typically, these systems employ a centralized architecture where a central controller collects information from various sources and provides control signals to heating and/or cooling units based on the collected information. 
         [0011]    New methods of demand-response are desirable to overcome the shortcomings of conventional systems. However, utilities are reluctant to undergo significant changes, such as implementing new methods of demand-response management, without significant corroboration of benefit and palpable sense of operation. Measurement and verification (M&amp;V) of curtailed energy (energy saved when needed by the electric utility) is difficult to achieve accurately but important if energy curtailment is to have any sort of market-based pricing, which is the current trend in certain energy programs, or when trying to determine customer rebates. Moreover, in more advanced systems, 100% of measured devices returning the energy curtailed information in real-time is often not viable over certain networks. Historically, even cruder models of energy measurement and verification have been used. 
         [0012]    Current measurement and verifications systems generally look at baseline modes, from one day to the next. For example, using the 90/10 rule, a system will look at the last week, then take a 10% rating to the current day, just before and that&#39;s their answer. 
         [0013]    Other than the 90/10 rule, measurements can be taken directly from the device itself, and you can also look into the meter to measure the flows of the before and after, so it&#39;s a 1 to 1 correlation. That means that all that data needs to be uploaded over the network on the back call channel to eventually be time stamped, put into data management system, and archived somewhere else for verification. 
         [0014]    On one end of the spectrum, there are very crude measurement and verification systems comprising of taking a measurement before and after an event, with some kind of weighted average or previous baseline. This approach suffers from being overly broad and nonspecific. 
         [0015]    On the other end of the spectrum, there are very specific measurement systems that create massive amounts of data. This approach suffers from excessive computation and time required to process the data. 
         [0016]    It would be advantageous to provide a system to quantify results of a demand-response operation with sufficient specificity and in a timely manner. 
         [0017]    It would also be advantageous to provide a system to use real measurement and verification to calibrate virtual measurement and verification. 
         [0018]    It would further be advantageous to provide a system to verify arbitrary strategies from arbitrary vendors. 
         [0019]    It would further be advantageous to provide a system to quantify results of a demand-response operation without having to transmit data relevant from each device over the network. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0020]    In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method and system for quantifying, measuring and verifying the results of demand-response operations in a smart grid. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0021]    A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunction with the subsequent, detailed description, in which: 
           [0022]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of various functional components participating in a demand response call. 
           [0023]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of various functional components of a probabilistic measurement and verification system. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0024]    Before the invention is described in further detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described, as such may, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and not intended to be limiting, since the scope of the present invention will be limited only by the appended claims. 
         [0025]    Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range is encompassed with the invention. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may independently be included in the smaller ranges is also encompassed within the invention, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range. Where the stated range includes one or both of the limits, ranges excluding either or both of those included limits are also included in the invention. 
         [0026]    Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, a limited number of the exemplary methods and materials are described herein. 
         [0027]    It must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. 
         [0028]    All publications mentioned herein are incorporated herein by reference to disclose and describe the methods and/or materials in connection with which the publications are cited. The publications discussed herein are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the present invention is not entitled to antedate such publication by virtue of prior invention. Further, if dates of publication are provided, they may be different from the actual publication dates and may need to be confirmed independently. 
         [0029]    The present invention uses a more wide scale approach without the necessity of creating all the data associated with measuring every single end point device. In one embodiment, the system takes a statistical sampling based on spatial probabilistic computing with a mechanism that can send better commands using a distributed probabilistic computing system. 
         [0030]    An advantage of such a simple mechanism is that not all data is sent back to the server, but rather a sampling percentage such as 10% or 20%. With a rating mechanism, a method is provided to validate a market, and also reduce the traffic on the network. With a 10% sample, if 100% is accurate, then a positive reading is determined. If the sample is 50% accurate, then a negative reading is determined. In other embodiments, you can adjust the system, provide an ongoing feedback loop, take a larger sampling, or investigate what&#39;s going on with the program. 
         [0031]    The architecture comprises the basic loop including devices, a server, and communications. In one embodiment, the system measurement verification processes a hierarchy tree of data, from the device, the metered data, metered data that&#39;s specifically time stamped, or more broadly a moving average below that time stamp, before or after. The data is obtained from the home, from the energy gateway, or directly from the device. Whether its metered data or whether its asynchronous based on the recorded data that technically could be the energy gateway, or more likely be embedded into meter data management from a probabilistic standpoint. 
         [0032]    In one embodiment, not every single data point is taken; the system takes the average of a randomized sub-sampling to process. Micro loads require the ability to constantly audit the entire system, aggregate load relieve this constraint. 
         [0033]    In one embodiment, a micro audit is used to statistically verify the whole, or a larger unit. Verification enables the processing of a lot less data and to get the same results. The system can process a complete aggregate of all the loads. In one embodiment, the system can be applied to obtain virtual power and to verify each individual micro load. The system can address the overall load, bringing it down to a specific number of pennies per kW/hr to enable a virtual power market. It is currently difficult monetizing micro loads, and obviously difficult to do so with the current mechanisms being used today for M&amp;V. 
         [0034]    The current costs of tracking micro loads are too expensive to justify them. The present invention can get a sufficient quality of data that enables consumers to be rewarded for those micro load savings via a M&amp;V system that stands up to scrutiny to justify payments and rebates. 
         [0035]    In one embodiment of the invention, results for individual users are tiered. The system places users in specific tiers and gives them a rebate based on that tier. 
         [0036]    There are different ways to do measurement verification, whether it&#39;s real time or whether it&#39;s synchronous or asynchronous, and in all cases, with a randomized distributed and probabilistic methodology of viewing the data, the same results can be obtained in terms of having to get an audit for the system, without all of the overhead involved with trying to record all the data, send all the data, query all the data, and store all the data. 
         [0037]    With reference now to  FIG. 1 , energy collection server  100  collects data from numerous agents  120  embedded in each of the client devices  110  in the system. In the present instance, twelve client devices are shown. Each agent  120  measures or estimates energy usage of the host client device  110 , and transmits that data to the energy collection server  100  in response to a request from the energy collection server  100 , or based on a pre-set schedule. 
         [0038]    With reference now to  FIG. 2 , selecting energy collection server  200  collects data from selected agent  220  embedded in selected client device  210  in the system. In the present instance, one selected client device  210  is shown, which represents approximately 8% of the client devices  110  shown in  FIG. 1 . Since only a fraction of the potential selected client devices are transmitting data to the selecting energy collection server  200 , network traffic is significantly reduced. The selected agent  220  measures or estimates energy usage of the host client device  210 , and transmits that data to the selecting energy collection server  200  in response to a request from the selecting energy collection server  200 , or based on a pre-set schedule. In one embodiment of the present invention, the selecting energy collection server  200  selects a selected client device  210  by making an assessment of where there is the least network traffic or congestion. In another embodiment of the present invention, the selecting energy collection server  100  randomly selects the selected client device  210  from the universe of client devices  110 . In another embodiment of the present invention, the selecting energy collection server  100  algorithmically selects the selected client device  210  from the universe of client devices  110 . 
       Example Computing System 
       [0039]    With reference now to  FIG. 3 , portions of the technology for providing computer-readable and computer-executable instructions that reside, for example, in or on computer-usable media of a computer system. That is,  FIG. 3  illustrates one example of a type of computer that can be used to implement one embodiment of the present technology. 
         [0040]    Although computer system  300  of  FIG. 3  is an example of one embodiment, the present technology is well suited for operation on or with a number of different computer systems including general purpose networked computer systems, embedded computer systems, routers, switches, server devices, user devices, various intermediate devices/artifacts, standalone computer systems, mobile phones, personal data assistants, and the like. 
         [0041]    In one embodiment, computer system  300  of  FIG. 3  includes peripheral computer readable media  302  such as, for example, a floppy disk, a compact disc, and the like coupled thereto. 
         [0042]    Computer system  300  of  FIG. 3  also includes an address/data bus  304  for communicating information, and a processor  306 A coupled to bus  304  for processing information and instructions. In one embodiment, computer system  300  includes a multi-processor environment in which a plurality of processors  306 A,  306 B, and  306 C are present. Conversely, computer system  300  is also well suited to having a single processor such as, for example, processor  306 A. Processors  306 A,  306 B, and  306 C may be any of various types of microprocessors. Computer system  300  also includes data storage features such as a computer usable volatile memory  308 , e.g. random access memory (RAM), coupled to bus  304  for storing information and instructions for processors  306 A,  306 B, and  306 C. 
         [0043]    Computer system  300  also includes computer usable non-volatile memory  310 , e.g. read only memory (ROM), coupled to bus  304  for storing static information and instructions for processors  306 A,  306 B, and  306 C. Also present in computer system  300  is a data storage unit  312  (e.g., a magnetic or optical disk and disk drive) coupled to bus  304  for storing information and instructions. Computer system  300  also includes an optional alpha-numeric input device  314  including alpha-numeric and function keys coupled to bus  304  for communicating information and command selections to processor  306 A or processors  306 A,  306 B, and  306 C. Computer system  300  also includes an optional cursor control device  316  coupled to bus  304  for communicating user input information and command selections to processor  306 A or processors  306 A,  306 B, and  306 C. In one embodiment, an optional display device  318  is coupled to bus  304  for displaying information. 
         [0044]    Referring still to  FIG. 3 , optional display device  318  of  FIG. 3  may be a liquid crystal device, cathode ray tube, plasma display device or other display device suitable for creating graphic images and alpha-numeric characters recognizable to a user. Optional cursor control device  316  allows the computer user to dynamically signal the movement of a visible symbol (cursor) on a display screen of display device  318 . Implementations of cursor control device  316  include a trackball, mouse, touch pad, joystick or special keys on alphanumeric input device  314  capable of signaling movement of a given direction or manner of displacement. Alternatively, in one embodiment, the cursor can be directed and/or activated via input from alpha-numeric input device  314  using special keys and key sequence commands or other means such as, for example, voice commands. 
         [0045]    Computer system  300  also includes an I/O device  320  for coupling computer system  300  with external entities. In one embodiment, I/O device  320  is a modem for enabling wired or wireless communications between computer system  300  and an external network such as, but not limited to, the Internet. Referring still to  FIG. 3 , various other components are depicted for computer system  300 . Specifically, when present, an operating system  322 , applications  324 , modules  326 , and data  328  are shown as typically residing in one or some combination of computer usable volatile memory  308 , e.g. random access memory (RAM), and data storage unit  312 . However, in an alternate embodiment, operating system  322  may be stored in another location such as on a network or on a flash drive. Further, operating system  322  may be accessed from a remote location via, for example, a coupling to the internet. In one embodiment, the present technology is stored as an application  324  or module  326  in memory locations within RAM  308  and memory areas within data storage unit  312 . 
         [0046]    The present technology may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions stored on computer readable medium that may be executed by a computer. However, one embodiment of the present technology may also utilize a distributed computing environment where tasks are performed remotely by devices linked through a communications network. 
         [0047]    It should be further understood that the examples and embodiments pertaining to the systems and methods disclosed herein are not meant to limit the possible implementations of the present technology. Further, although the subject matter has been described in a language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the Claims. 
         [0048]    Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention. 
         [0049]    Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention. 
         [0050]    Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention.