Described are systems, methods, and apparatus that enable power management and reduction at both the individual and group level to help reduce the overall power demand on a power system. One or more sensors may be positioned at different locations that collect and provide various sensor data to a remote computing system, referred to herein as a management system. The management system maintains location profiles for each location, user profiles for users at the various locations, and may also receive third party data, such as weather patterns, power system load, etc. The management system utilizes the received data to determine one or more energy saving actions that may be performed at the location(s) to reduce energy consumption and lower the demand on the power system.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for performing a thermostat-based demand response event. In one aspect, a method includes accessing, for sites, historical readings of HVAC activity, indoor temperature, and outdoor temperature and building a model for each of the sites using the historical readings of HVAC activity, indoor temperature, and outdoor temperature. The method also includes using a simulation engine to achieve a target load shed and load reduction shape for a thermostat-based demand response event, and performing the thermostat-based demand response event based on results of the simulation engine.

Methods and systems are provided for managing environmental conditions and energy usage associated with a site. One exemplary method of regulating an environment condition at a site involves a server receiving environmental measurement data from a monitoring system at the site via a network, determining an action for an electrical appliance at the site based at least in part on the environmental measurement data and one or more monitoring rules associated with the site, and providing an indication of the action to an actuator for the electrical appliance.

A target power calculation apparatus, a target power calculation method, and a target power calculation program for deriving target power that is to be set when performing a demand control process are provided. A target power calculation apparatus includes a learning unit configured to learn whether a target power set in a first period is adequate, according to control information obtained upon performing a demand control process in the first period based on the set target power, an inference unit configured to infer whether a target power set in a second period is adequate, according to control information obtained upon performing a demand control process in the second period based on a result of learning by the learning unit, and a correction unit configured to correct the target power set in the second period based on a predetermined correction amount upon the inference unit inferring that there is inadequacy.

A solar photovoltaic (PV) water heating system includes a tank including at least a first heating unit having at least first and second heating elements, at least one of which is switchable; a PV solar collector; an inverter adapted to convert the output from the PV collector to an alternating power supply; a modulator to modulate the alternating power supply from the inverter; a controller adapted to control the modulator and the switching of the or each switchable heating element; wherein the controller is adapted to control the modulator and the switchable heating elements to maximize the energy drawn from the PV collector.

A solar photovoltaic (PV) water heating system includes a tank (1.020) including at least a first heating unit (1.016) having at least first and second heating elements (1.016.1 . . . 1.016.x), at least one of which is switchable (1.014.1A . . . 1.014.1m); a PV solar collector (1.002); an inverter (1.004) adapted to convert the output from the PV collector to an alternating power supply; a modulator (1.060) to modulate the alternating power supply from the inverter; a controller (1.040) adapted to control the modulator and the switching of the or each switchable heating element; wherein the controller is adapted to control the modulator and the switchable heating elements to maximize the energy drawn from the PC collector.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for brewing a desired portion of a beverage, such as a single-cup portion of coffee, are provided. The system can include one or more hopper assemblies configured to provide a controlled dose of beverage material to a brew chamber. The system can also include a water input system configured to wet the ground beverage material as the grinds enter the brew chamber and substantially prevent steam from reaching grinder components of the system. Further, the system can include an automatic cleaning mechanism such that a user does not need to manually clean components of a brewing machine between brew cycles.

A predictive controller for a building energy system includes one or more processing circuits configured to obtain a constraint that defines a total electric load to be served by the building energy system at each time step of a time period as a summation of multiple source-specific energy components. The source-specific energy components include a first energy component indicating a first amount of energy to obtain from a first energy source during the time step and a second energy component indicating a second amount of energy to obtain from a second energy source during the time step. The one or more processing circuits are configured to perform a predictive control process subject to the constraint to determine values of the source-specific energy components at each time step of the time period and operate equipment of the building energy system using the values of the source-specific energy components.

Energy system (1) comprising an inverter (3) for converting an electrical direct voltage into an alternating voltage which can be used to supply electrical consumption units (4) of the energy system (1) and can be converted into heat by means of at least one heat pump (7) of the energy system (1), characterised in that in that the heat pump (7) can be controlled by means of a system control (10) of the energy system (1) via a control interface (12) in accordance with a heat pump configuration file (WPK) loaded specifically for the at least one heat pump (7) in a data memory (11) of the system control (10), wherein a communication of the system control (10) with a heat pump control (8) provided for the heat pump (7) is effected in accordance with at least one control type of the heat pump (7) indicated in the heat pump configuration file (WPK).

[Problem] As compared with the case where the apparent power in the electric line on the supply side is adjusted without supplying the current to the electric line closer to the power supply side than the distribution transformer, there is a reduction in the effect of the state in the electric line closer to the power reception side than the distribution transformer on the adjustment of the apparent power in the electric line closer to the power supply side than the distribution transformer.

[Solution] A power control system includes a device that receives power from an electric line of a distribution system via a distribution transformer, an acquisition unit that acquires electric line information on the electric line, and a control unit that causes the device to generate a current used for adjustment of apparent power in the electric line based on the electric line information acquired by the acquisition unit.