In a control device, an instruction acquirer acquires an instruction to suppress in a specified period supplying of generated power generated by power generator installed in a power-consuming area to a commercial electrical power system. Upon the instruction acquirer acquiring the instruction, a water heater controller commands a water heater installed in the power-consuming area to perform a water heat-up operation when a predetermined condition is satisfied in the specified period.

Disclosed are various embodiments for optimizing energy management. A quantity of renewable power that will be generated by renewable energy generation sources can be forecasted. The energy demand for a building or a cluster of buildings can be forecasted. A pricing model for buying energy from a grid can be determined. A quantity of energy to import from the grid or export to the grid can be scheduled based on the quantity of renewable energy forecasted and the state of charge or health of battery energy storage system, current and future operations of building HVAC, lighting and plug loads system, the forecasted energy demand for the building, and the pricing of the energy from the grid.

The invention relates to a method for controlling power generation from a power plant which comprises a plurality of power generating units. The method involves setting a maximal allowed power production for each power generating unit in a selection of one or more power generating units of second priority to a non-zero value, where the maximal allowed power production is determined dependent on whether a first power production gap is greater or less than zero and dependent on a comparison of the first power production gap with a second available power production capability of the selection of the one or more power generating units of the second priority.

A method, system and apparatus are provided for optimized load shaping for optimizing production and consumption of energy. Information signals indicative of a first load shape signal are obtained corresponding to a total load, a renewable energy load of one or more renewable energy sources and a non-renewable energy load of one or more non-renewable energy sources. The first load shape signal corresponding to renewable energy load is removed from a non-renewable energy load to obtain a resulting load shape signal. The resulting load shape is flattened signal by apportioning the resulting load shape signal across time intervals to obtain a flattened load shape signal. At least a portion of the first component corresponding to the renewable energy load is added to the flattened load shape signal to create an optimized load shape signal. The optimized load shape signal is provided to modulate electric loads of energy-consuming devices.

A recommended action output system includes a communicator that obtains activity plan information including an activity plan of a user of a vehicle including a storage battery and electricity storage information including electricity storage capacity of the storage battery and an amount of electricity stored currently in the storage battery; a controller that obtains charger information including locations of vehicle chargers in a specific area; a predictor that predicts a change over time in electric power demand in the specific area; a determiner that determines a charging timing of the storage battery recommended to the user and a charging location indicating a location of a vehicle charger for charging the storage battery to reduce peak demand in the predicted change over time, based on the activity plan information, the electricity storage information, and the charger information; and a communicator that outputs recommendation information including the determined charging timing and location.

A method for operating an appliance on a power grid operated by a utility is described. The method includes receiving, at a server associated with the utility, information indicating whether a person is present in a proximity of the appliance, determining, by the server, an operational state of the appliance based on whether the person is present in the proximity of the appliance, and transmitting to the appliance, via a communication link associated with the power grid, control information related to the operational state to control operation of the appliance. Related methods, devices and systems are described.

A method and system of controlling the time dependent transfer of electrical power between a first electrical network and a second electrical network is disclosed. The first electrical network is operable to provide instantaneous electrical power to the second electrical network located at a location, the second electrical network includes electrical generating capacity at the location based on stored energy accessible at the location. The method and system involves receiving at the second electrical network pricing information from the first electrical network, the pricing information associated with the future supply of electrical power by the first electrical network to the second electrical network and then modifying substantially in real time the transfer of electrical power between the first and second electrical networks in accordance with the pricing information and the electricity demand characteristics of the location.

The present disclosure provides a new and improved method and apparatus of scheduling for a charging infrastructure serving a plurality of electric vehicles. A computer-implemented method for scheduling a charging infrastructure serving a plurality of electric vehicles is provided, in which a prediction for a usage pattern of the charging infrastructure is made with a context based on historical usage patterns of the charging infrastructure and the contexts of the historical usage patterns, and a schedule scheme for deciding a distribution of charging spots of the charging infrastructure among the electric vehicles is determined based on the predicted usage pattern.

An energy storage assembly includes an energy storage unit. A supervisor is operable to determine a power reference set point based upon a cost function. A storage unit controller is configured to control the energy storage unit to provide electric energy to at least one load based upon a power reference input that is based upon the power reference set point and at least one dynamically changing power profile from the at least one load.

A system and method for optimizing power grid operations and enhancing the life of switching components therein is provided. Current meteorological information of a region of operation of the power grid is collected during operation thereof, along with historical meteorological data of the region. A plurality of prediction models are executed using the current meteorological information and/or the historical meteorological data and a meteorological parameter of the region is forecast by selectively combining outputs of at least some of the executed prediction models, the meteorological parameter being a parameter that causes a renewable energy source in the power grid to generate power. The forecasted meteorological parameter is compensated with physical models and the historical meteorological data, and optimal switching operations of switching components in the power grid are computed based on the compensated forecasted meteorological parameter, with the switching components being controlled based on the computed optimal switching operations.