Remote energy management using persistent smart grid network context

A server device comprising:

• a memory to store control policies, associated with a plurality of smart grid devices, that govern the manner in which a curtailment operation or an operation to replenish unforced capacity are to be performed, the control policies including a threshold associated with a maximum quantity of power consumption permitted by the plurality of smart grid devices or another threshold associated with a minimum quantity of stored or generated power to be made available by one or more smart grid devices of the plurality of smart grid devices;
• and
• a processor to:
• obtain, from a device gateway server and via a web service enabled by a tunneling protocol, network content that includes information regarding a quantity of power consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices and information regarding a quantity of stored or generated power available from the one or more smart grid devices,
• compare the threshold obtained from the control policies with the quantity of power consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices obtained from the network content,
• send, to the device gateway server, an instruction to perform the curtailment operation when the quantity of power consumed is greater than the threshold,
• compare the other threshold obtained from the control policies with the quantity of stored or generated power available from the one or more smart grid devices obtained from the network content, when the quantity of power consumed is less than or equal to the threshold, and
• send, to the device gateway server, another instruction to perform the operation to replenish the unforced capacity, and when the quantity of stored or generated power is less than the other threshold.

A system comprising:

• a storage device to store control policies, associated with a plurality of smart grid devices, that govern a manner in which a curtailment operation is to be performed, the control policies including a curtailment threshold corresponding to a quantity that power, consumed by a plurality of smart grid devices, is permitted to be reduced during the curtailment operation;
• and
• a first server device to:
• receive, from a second server device associated with a power generation utility from which the plurality of smart grid devices receive power, a demand-response (DR) request to reduce power consumption, the request including a demand quantity corresponding to a quantity that the plurality of smart grid devices are to reduce consuming power transmitted by the power generation utility,
• obtain, from a third server device and via a tunneling protocol, a quantity of unforced capacity to be used to offset a reduction in power consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices during a curtailment operation, the tunneling protocol enabling the first server device to communicate with the plurality of smart grid devices from a location that is remote from another location associated with the plurality of smart grid devices,
• determine whether to perform the curtailment operation in response to the DR request based on a comparison of the demand quantity with a curtailment capacity associated with the curtailment threshold and the quantity of unforced capacity,
• send a notification to a user device that the curtailment operation is not to be performed when the demand quantity is greater than the curtailment capacity, and
• send another notification to the user device that the curtailment operation is to be performed when the demand quantity is less than or equal to the curtailment capability.