Patent ID: 8335595

Claim:
A method for providing energy to a group of consumers via an energy distribution network having distributed energy sources, during a disruption in the distribution network, comprising the following steps: determining a group of consumer premises to which distribution of the energy via the network has been interrupted and which are eligible to receive energy from one or more distributed energy sources; determining the amount of energy that is available to be supplied to said determined group of consumer premises from said one or more distributed energy sources; defining a profile for supply of energy to consumer premises in said determined group, wherein said profile is based upon said determined amount of available energy from said one or more distributed energy resources, an anticipated duration of the disruption in the distribution network, and data describing energy requirements of consumer premises in said determined group including predetermined device priorities of devices within said consumer premises; selecting particular devices from a plurality of devices within said consumer premises in said determined group, said selected particular devices to be supplied energy from said one or more distributed energy sources, based upon said profile; and connecting the selected particular devices from said plurality of devices within said consumer premises to said one or more distributed energy sources, to thereby supply the selected particular devices with energy during the disruption in the distribution network.