Patent ID: 7274975

Claim:
A method for allocating electrical energy at a location where the electrical energy is consumed, comprising the computer-implemented steps of: (1) determining a marginal cost for each of a plurality of energy sources available at the location, at least one of which is a non-grid source of electricity; (2) determining a capacity of electrical energy available from each non-grid energy source; (3) determining a demand for electrical energy at the location; (4) dynamically allocating, in order of lowest marginal cost to highest marginal cost, electrical energy capacity from each of the plurality of energy sources to meet the demand; (5) reducing demand at the location by automatically deferring electrical consumption for a device for which consumption can be deferred from a higher-cost time period to a lower-cost time period, including the computer-implemented step of issuing a command to the device to cause the deferral to occur, and further including determining projected marginal costs in each of a plurality of future time frames and deferring electrical consumption for the device to one of the plurality of future time frames while conforming to an operational constraint for the device, the operational constraint for the device comprising a maximum time duration for which the device can be swithched off.