Patent ID: 8588989

Claim:
A system comprising: a power-consuming facility configured to receive electrical power from an electric utility grid; at least one energy storage device located at the power-consuming facility, the energy storage device comprising multiple energy storage devices configured to store electrical energy from the electrical power received from the electric utility grid and connect to computing devices such that a power management system is able to cause one or more of the computing devices to be powered by the energy storage devices rather than the power received from the electric utility grid; and, the power management system configured to: determine an amount by which power consumed by the power-consuming facility can be reduced by determining which of the computing devices can be powered by the connected energy storage devices because the computing devices are not needed to perform scheduled operations and the connected energy storage devices do not need to be recharged; send a message to the electric utility grid indicating the amount by which power consumed by the power-consuming facility can be reduced; and, receive, from the electric utility grid, a request that indicates an amount of power and, in response to the request, cause at least a portion of the power-consuming facility to be powered by the at least one energy storage device rather than the power received from the electric utility grid such that an amount of the received power consumed by the power-consuming facility is reduced by at least the indicated amount.