Patent ID: 6882904

Claim:
A method for providing electrical power to a plurality of end-users of electricity, comprising: receiving data in a central control center from each of the plurality of end-users, the data representing a demand for electrical power from each of the plurality of end-users; determining a power output from each of a plurality of electric-power devices each capable of providing a maximum of approximately 10 megawatts of electrical power necessary to meet an aggregate of the demand for electrical power from each of the plurality of end-users based on the data from each of the plurality of end-users and operating characteristics of each of the plurality of electric-power devices, using only the central control center, to optimize the operation of at least one of the electric-power devices by at least one of: minimizing an operating expense of the at least one of the electric-power devices; maximizing a reliability of the at least one of the electric-power devices; minimizing a cost to produce electric power using the at least one of the electric-power devices; and maximizing an efficiency of the at least one of the electric-power devices; and sending commands from the central control center to each of the plurality of electric-power devices to cause the plurality of electric-power devices to generate a combined power output equal to at least the aggregate of the demand for electrical power from each of the plurality of end-users.