# US 2018/0026445 A1 · Distributed hierarchical control architecture for integrating smart grid assets during normal and disrupted operations

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- Number: US 2018/0026445 A1
- Document ID: US20180026445A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 15/693,413
- Filed: 2017-08-31
- Published: 2018-01-25
- Earliest claimed: 2012-12-31
- Assignees: Battelle Memorial Institute
- Inventors: Karanjit Kalsi; Jason C. Fuller; Abhishek Somani; Robert G. Pratt; David P. Chassin; Donald J. Hammerstrom
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180026445A1

## CPC

- H02J 13/1323: {using optical fibres}
- G05F 5/00: Systems for regulating electric variables by detecting deviations in the electric input to the system and thereby controlling a device within the system to obtain a regulated output
- G06Q 40/04: Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
- G06Q 50/06: Energy or water supply
- H02J 3/00: Circuit arrangements for AC mains or AC distribution networks
- H02J 3/008: Circuit arrangements for power supply or distribution technologies responsive to energy trading
- H02J 3/06: Controlling the transfer of power between connected networks; Controlling load sharing between connected networks
- H02J 3/16: by adjustment of reactive power
- H02J 3/381: {Dispersed generators}
- H02J 3/46: Controlling the sharing of generated power between the generators, sources or networks
- H02J 2101/20: Dispersed power generation using renewable energy sources
- Y02E 40/70: Smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the energy generation sector
- Y02E 60/00: Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
- Y04S 10/12: Monitoring or controlling equipment for energy generation units, e.g. distributed energy generation [DER] or load-side generation
- Y04S 10/123: the energy generation units being or involving renewable energy sources
- Y04S 10/50: Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications
- Y04S 40/124: using wired telecommunication networks or data transmission busses
- Y04S 50/10: Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid
- H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
- G05F: SYSTEMS FOR REGULATING ELECTRIC OR MAGNETIC VARIABLES
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y04S: SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION, COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT OR USAGE, i.e. SMART GRIDS

## Abstract

Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for facilitating operation and control of a resource distribution system (such as a power grid). Among the disclosed embodiments is a distributed hierarchical control architecture (DHCA) that enables smart grid assets to effectively contribute to grid operations in a controllable manner, while helping to ensure system stability and equitably rewarding their contribution. Embodiments of the disclosed architecture can help unify the dispatch of these resources to provide both market-based and balancing services.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system for coordinating distribution of electricity according to a distributed hierarchical control architecture (DHCA), comprising:
one or more transactive controllers configured to operate a wholesale market for coordinating the distribution of electricity between power generation resources and area controllers that distribute electricity to and from multiple feeder networks; and
one or more transactive controllers configured to operate a retail market for coordinating the distribution of electricity between one or more of the feeder networks and one or more electrical devices,
wherein at least one of the transactive controllers in the wholesale market is further configured to exchange transactive control signals with at least one of the transactive controllers in the retail market, and to thereby integrate the retail market with the wholesale market.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the integration of the retail market with the wholesale market allows one or more of the electrical devices to participate in the wholesale market via the exchanged transactive control signals between the at least one of the transactive controllers in the wholesale market and the at least one of the transactive controllers in the retail market.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the transactive controllers in the retail market is a transactive controller associated with a respective one of the feeder networks and is configured to:
a) exchange transactive control signals with transactive controllers for multiple electrical devices served by the respective one of the feeder networks;
b) aggregate bids for supply, demand, or both supply and demand from the electrical devices; and
c) generate bids for supply, demand, or both supply and demand for the wholesale market based at least in part on the aggregated bids.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The system of claim 3, wherein the generated bids are further based at least in part on constraints at the respective one of the feeder networks.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the transactive controllers in the wholesale market is a transactive controller associated with one of the area controllers and is configured to:
a) exchange transactive control signals with transactive controllers for multiple feeder networks in a respective area;
b) aggregate bids for supply, demand, or both supply and demand from the transactive controllers for the multiple feeder networks; and
c) generate bids for supply, demand, or both supply and demand for the wholesale market based at least in part on the aggregated bids.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The system of claim 5, wherein the generated bids are further based at least in part on constraints in the respective area.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more transactive controllers configured to operate in the wholesale market comprises a system-level controller associated with an independent system operator or regional transmission organization.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7, wherein the system-level transactive controller is configured to transmit signals indicative of a cleared price and a quantity of electricity to a respective transactive controller associated with an area controller.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the system-level transactive controller is further configured to compute and transmit a setpoint for use by one or more electrical devices in the event of a disruption to the system.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more transactive controllers configured to operate in the wholesale market and the one or more transactive controllers configured to operate in the retail market are further configured to operate in both a real-time market and a day-ahead market,
wherein the real-time market comprises a market for settling a price for electricity in an imminent time interval, and
wherein the day-ahead market comprises a market for settling power supply commitment for the following day.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the transactive controllers configured to operate in the retail market is further configured to receive a signal indicative of an imbalance or disruption in the system, and, in response thereto, adjust electrical supply or demand of one or more electrical devices associated with the at least one of the transactive controllers.

### Claim 12

A system for coordinating distribution of electricity according to a distributed hierarchical control architecture (DHCA), comprising:
one or more device-level transactive controllers at a device level of the DHCA;
one or more feeder-level transactive controllers at a feeder level of the DHCA;
one or more area-level transactive controllers at an area level of the DHCA; and
one or more system-level transactive controllers of the DHCA,
at least one of the device-level transactive controllers and at least one of the feeder-level transactive controllers being configured to communicate with one another,
at least one of the feeder-level transactive controllers and at least one of the area-level transactive controllers being configured to communicate with one another,
at least one of the area-level transactive controllers and at least one of the system-level transactive controllers being configured to communicate with one another,
wherein the device-level transactive controllers, feeder-level transactive controllers, area-level transactive controllers, and system-level transactive controllers are configured to participate in a real-time market for settling a price for electricity in one or more upcoming time intervals for the real-time market, and
wherein at least some of the device-level transactive controllers, feeder-level transactive controllers, area-level transactive controllers, and system-level transactive controllers are also configured to participate in a balancing market, the balancing market being configured to maintain system stability during periods of imbalance in the system.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein the device-level transactive controllers operate at a faster frequency in the balancing market than in the real-time market.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein one or more of the device-level transactive controllers participating in the balancing market are configured to control a controllable load or a controllable energy supply.

### Claim 15 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein one or more of the device-level transactive controllers participating in the balancing market are configured to control discharging and charging of an electric battery.

### Claim 16 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein one or more of the device-level transactive controllers participating in the balancing market are configured to provide balancing services by reacting autonomously to one or more of a frequency of the power system, voltage of the power system, a broadcast imbalance signal, current real-time market price, day-ahead price, or device conditions.

### Claim 17 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein the device-level transactive controllers, feeder-level transactive controllers, area-level transactive controllers, and system-level transactive controllers are further configured to participate in a day-ahead market for settling a price for electricity for a following day.

### Claim 18

A method for operating a controller in a market-based electrical-energy-allocation system, comprising:
by computing hardware:
computing one or more transactive signals for coordinating the use, supply, or both use and supply of electricity in an upcoming time interval of a transactive control energy market, the time interval being a periodic time interval;
receiving one or more signals indicating an imbalance in the electrical-energy-allocation system; and
responsive to the one or more signals indicating the imbalance, implementing a control strategy for reducing the imbalance, wherein the receiving and the implementing occur independent and autonomously of the transactive signals exchanged during the periodic time interval.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the implementing the control strategy comprises adjusting electrical use or supply of the one or more electrical devices controlled by the controller.

### Claim 20 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the receiving and the implementing occur independent and autonomously of the real-time market.

### Claim 21 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the controller is a device-level controller for controlling one or more distributed smart grid assets.

### Claim 22 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the control strategy is based at least in part on a setpoint dispatched from a controller associated with a feeder with which the electrical device is connected.

### Claim 23 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more signals indicating the imbalance comprise one or more of a frequency of the power system, voltage of the power system, or a broadcast imbalance signal.

### Claim 24 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, further comprising detecting a disruption in the system, and automatically implementing a control strategy for a system disruption until the disruption ends.

### Claim 25 (depends on 24)

The method of claim 24, wherein the control strategy for the system disruption comprises one of shutting off the electrical device, reducing an electricity consumption rate of the electrical device, or increasing an electrical supply from the electrical device.

### Claim at position 26

-40. (canceled)