Device and method for intelligent control of power supply source connection

A method of performed by a device configured for intelligent control of supplied and consumed electrical energy for residential, commercial, and industrial sites that is equipped with one or more sources of electrical energy, including renewable energy, comprising:

• measuring a current and voltage of electrical components, including an external grid, current and voltage of connected AC and DC generation sources, state of charge, voltage and current of connected batteries, current and forecasted electrical energy demand by connected consumers, in which the measuring is performed by querying of various sensors associated with the measured components;
• measuring of current and voltage on inputs from generation sources including photovoltaic panels, wind generators, standby generators, and the external grid, in which the measuring is performed by continuous cyclical querying of current and voltage sensors;
• responsive to a sensor readings at an input of the device from a renewable energy sources which has been identified as having high priority, in which the sensor readings indicate detecting sufficient electrical energy production of the renewable energy source, the microprocessor control unit connects the electrical energy source to a DC bus, and at a same time sending a command for a back-up generator to stop when the generator is simultaneously operating, wherein based on a state of charge measurement, the microprocessor control unit commands for charging to begin;
• based on the voltage and current sensor readings at an output to consumer and comparison with the sensor readings at the input from the renewable energy source with the high priority, determining, using the microprocessor control unit, whether to direct electrical energy for battery charging based on an assessment of whether the high priority renewable energy source is sufficient to cover current demand from the connected loads;
• analyzing, by the microprocessor control unit, a possibility to export excessive energy to the external grid based on an export permission either defined by a user during an initial setup or based on a received command from another system over a network;
• producing, at the microprocessor control unit, a command to disconnect the external grid if export is not permitted, or commanding a bidirectional inverter to begin electrical energy export to the external grid when export is determined to be permitted and expedient;
• when available electrical energy of the renewable energy sources with the high priority is not enough based on the sensor readings of energy sources with medium priority, electrical energy is available at the inputs from the sources of medium priority when required including the external grid, the microprocessor control unit connects the sources with the medium priority;
• when the electrical energy on the inputs from the high and medium priority sources is not sufficient, connecting, using the microprocessor control unit, to the sources identified as having a low priority, including the standby generators, by sending a command to start the source and receiving the feedback from the voltage and current sensors at the device input associated with the source;
• and
• receiving, from over a network, data from external systems to dynamically correct the main algorithm, in which the microprocessor analyzes a priority settings of the energy sources and that the priority settings are adjusted such that the priority of each source is increased or decreased in anticipation of a weather forecast predicting favorable conditions for producing sufficient energy in a defined period of time, and wherein the microprocessor control unit analyses remaining state of charge of the batteries, expected energy consumption by the loads for a time period remaining until sufficient production of own energy sources is expected to begin according to the weather forecast, and switches the energy consumption by loads to the batteries, and disconnecting the external grid and other energy sources with the lower priority setting, and wherein when the data received from the external systems indicate favorable price for exported energy, if the high priority sources are not producing, the microprocessor control unit analyses current state of charge of the batteries, own energy demand and expected production of own generation sources according to weather forecast, and when the available energy in the batteries exceeds own consumers demand until an expected start of generation by own sources, and the microprocessor control unit commands the bidirectional AC/DC inverter to switch to energy export mode, and at a same time the readings from the voltage and current sensors at the output of the inverter and the input from the external grid are analyzed and the amount of exported energy is measured, the command to stop the export is sent when the remaining state of charge of the batteries reduces to a minimum required and sufficient level to power own loads for a period of time until own generation sources production is expected.