Customer-centric demand side management for utilities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9329650-B2
Application number	US-201313771827-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 20, 2013
Priority date	Mar 14, 2012
Publication date	May 3, 2016
Grant date	May 3, 2016

Abstract

A method and system for reducing demand on a power grid through demand side management includes receiving assigned priorities from a customer for smart appliances and for appliances plugged into sockets of one or more smart plugs of the customer, the assigned priorities indicative of a customer-preferred sequence for disconnection of, or adjustment of power to, the appliances from the power grid. The system determines whether to disconnect or adjust power to at least one of the appliances of the customer; and selects at least one of the appliances according to the assigned priorities to reduce demand on the power grid. The system sends one or more commands, the one or more commands indicative to the one or more smart plugs to disconnect or adjust power to the selected at least one of the appliances based on selecting at least one of the appliances.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, using a central utility data center computer having at least one processor and memory, assigned priorities from a customer for a plurality of appliances, the assigned priorities indicative of a customer-preferred sequence for disconnection of, or adjustment of power to, the plurality of appliances from a power grid;
receiving, from over a first network via a customer home network, at a smartplug headend included in the central utility data center computer, data indicative of power consumption of each of a plurality of respective appliances from a plurality of respective first smart plugs through which the respective appliances are receiving power;
receiving, from over a second network, at a smart meter headend included in the central utility data center computer, data from a smart meter, the data from the smart meter indicative of power consumption of each of a plurality of respective appliances from a plurality of respective second smart plugs through which the respective appliances are receiving power;
determining, using the at least one processor, whether to disconnect or adjust power to at least one of the appliances of the customer based on the received data;
selecting at least one of the plurality of appliances according to the assigned priorities to reduce demand on the power grid; and
based on selecting at least one of the plurality of appliances, sending one or more commands with the central utility data center computer over the first network to the first smart plugs via the customer home network or sending one or more commands with the central utility data center computer over the second network to the second smart plugs via the smart meter, the one or more commands executable by the first smart plugs or the second smart plugs to disconnect or adjust power to the selected at least one of the appliances, to thus reduce demand on the power grid through demand side management thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 , where the plurality of appliances comprise smart appliances configured to execute the one or more commands to disconnect or adjust power to the selected at least one of the appliances, the central utility data center computer configured to communicate the one or more commands to the smart appliances over the first network via the customer home network or over the second network via the smart meter.

3. The method of claim 2 , where each smart appliance includes at least one sensor coupled with a power connector thereof, the method further comprising:
receiving data from the smart appliances over the first network or the second network with the central utility data center computer, the data generated by the sensors and indicative of at least power usage of the respective smart appliances; and
sending, with central utility data center computer over the first network, information related to the data for the respective smart appliances to a customer computing device of the customer for presentation in a graphical user interface (GUI) executable on the customer computing device.

4. The method of claim 2 , where each smart appliance includes at least one sensor located within a respective smart appliance and coupled with a power connector thereof, where the at least one sensor of one of the smart appliances is further configured to provide data related to an environment of the respective smart appliance, the method further comprising:
sending a command executable by the selected at least one of the smart appliances over the first network or the second network, the command executable by the selected at least one of the smart appliances to disconnect or adjust the at least one of the appliances based at least in part on information derived from the data obtained from the environment detected by the at least one sensor.

5. The method of claim 1 , where the plurality of appliances are plugged into corresponding sockets of respective first or second smart plugs of the customer, the respective first or second smart plugs configured to disconnect or adjust power to the selected at least one of the appliances.

6. The method of claim 5 , where each first and second smart plug includes one or more sockets and at least one sensor coupled with each respective socket, the sockets paired with the respective appliances, the method further comprising:
receiving data from the respective first or second smart plugs over the first network or the second network, respectively, the data generated by the sensors and indicative of at least power usage of the respective appliances; and
sending information related to the data for the respective appliances over the first network to a customer home computing device of the customer for presentation in a graphical user interface (GUI) executable on the customer home computing device.

7. The method of claim 6 , where the first network comprises: an Internet or extranet to communicate to the respective first smart plugs via a smart gateway; and the second network comprises a power grid communication network including a smart gateway integrated with the smart meter of the power grid to communicate to the respective second smart plugs.

8. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
receiving, over the first network from the GUI, the assigned priorities as entered by the customer for the respective appliances.

9. The method of claim 6 , where the GUI comprises an application or browser executable on one or more of: a computer; a mobile device; a vehicle; and an in-home display.

10. The method of claim 5 , where each first or second smart plug includes a plurality of sockets and at least one sensor coupled with each respective socket, the sockets paired with the respective appliances.

11. The method of claim 6 , where an appliance assigned a low priority is disconnected or adjusted before an appliance assigned a high priority, the method further comprising:
receiving data from one or more sensors over the first network or the second network, the data indicative of a category of the respective appliances;
categorizing at least some of the respective appliances based on the data;
assigning a low priority to appliances categorized as less-important or luxury;
assigning a medium to high priority to appliances categorized as basic; and
assigning a high priority to appliances categorized as necessary or critical.

12. The method of claim 6 , where at least one of the sensors is further configured to provide data related to an environment in which the respective first or second smart plug resides, the method further comprising:
sending a command to the respective first or second smart plug to disconnect or adjust the at least one of the appliances based at least in part on information derived from the data obtained from the environment detected by the at least one sensor.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning a threshold priority to appliances of a specific, identified type.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a discount or a rebate to the customer on a utility bill of the customer based on disconnecting the power from or adjusting the power to the at least one of the appliances.

15. The method of claim 14 , where an amount of the discount or rebate is based at least in part on a per-unit rate of power saved during a time that the at least one of the appliances is disconnected or adjusted.

16. The method of claim 15 , where customers categorized in a first way have a different per-unit rate than customers categorized in a second way.

17. The m

Assignees

• Accenture Global Services Ltd

Inventors

• Paul Sanjoy
• Chandran Anitha
• Titus Gary

Classifications

• H02J2105/42

  Home appliances · CPC title

• Y04S20/222

  Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving · CPC title

• Y04S20/242

  Home appliances · CPC title

• G06F1/26 Primary

  Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C) · CPC title

• Y02B70/3225

  Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving · CPC title