Power distribution algorithm

Apparatus for distributing a resource through a network, the resource being electrical power, the network comprising a plurality of consumer units and a plurality of provider units, each consumer unit being connected to one or more provider units in the network, each consumer unit being a user of the resource and being associated with a desired resource amount, each provider unit being a provider of the resource and being associated with a resource production capacity, the apparatus comprising:

• one or more processors arranged to:
• for each provider unit, allocate a portion of the resource production capacity of that provider unit to each of the consumer units to which that provider unit is connected, thereby providing a current production allocation for each provider unit;
• one or more times, perform a process comprising:
• for each consumer unit, generating a vector comprising one or more resource requests, thereby providing a current vector for each consumer unit, each resource request being a request for an amount of resource to be delivered to that consumer unit from a provider unit connected to that consumer unit, and each resource request being dependent on the current production allocation of that provider unit;
• for each provider unit, determining whether the current production allocation of that provider unit satisfies the requests made of that provider unit in each of the current vectors;
• and
• for each provider unit for which it is determined that the current production allocation does not satisfy the requests made of that provider unit in each of the current vectors, updating the current production allocation for that provider unit;
• and
• an electrical energy grid for, from each provider unit and dependant on the current production allocation of that provider unit, delivering to a consumer unit connected to that provider unit an amount of resource.

One or more non-transient machine readable storage mediums encoded with instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause a method to be carried out, the method for distributing a resource through a network, the resource being electrical power, the network comprising a plurality of consumer units and a plurality of provider units, each consumer unit being connected to one or more provider units in the network, each consumer unit being a user of the resource and being associated with a desired resource amount, each provider unit being a provider of the resource and being associated with a resource production capacity, the method comprising:

• for each provider unit, allocating a portion of the resource production capacity of that provider unit to each of the consumer units to which that provider unit is connected, thereby providing a current production allocation for each provider unit;
• performing one or more times a process, the process being a process of performing steps (a) to (c);
• wherein
• step (a) comprises, for each consumer unit, generating a vector comprising one or more resource requests, thereby providing a current vector for each consumer unit, each resource request being a request for an amount of resource to be delivered to that consumer unit from a provider unit connected to that consumer unit, and each resource request being dependent on the current production allocation of that provider unit;
• step (b) comprises, for each provider unit, determining whether the current production allocation of that provider unit satisfies the requests made of that provider unit in each of the current vectors;
• and
• step (c) comprises, for each provider unit for which it is determined that the current production allocation does not satisfy the requests made of that provider unit in each of the current vectors, updating the current production allocation for that provider unit;
• and
• from each provider unit and dependant on the current production allocation of that provider unit, delivering to a consumer unit connected to that provider unit an amount of resource.