# US 9,519,878 B2 · Power regulation of power grid via datacenter > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,519,878 B2 - Document ID: US9519878B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/679,699 - Filed: 2015-04-06 - Published: 2015-07-30 - Granted: 2016-12-13 - Earliest claimed: 2011-10-03 - Assignees: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC - Applicants: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC - Inventors: Sriram Sankar; Christian L. Belady; T. Varugis Kurien; Joseph M. Sherman - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9519878B2 ## CPC - G06Q 10/06315: {Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis} - G06F 1/26: Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C) - G06F 1/305: {in the event of power-supply fluctuations} - G06F 1/329: by task scheduling - G06Q 50/06: Energy or water supply - H02J 1/10: Parallel operation of DC sources - H02J 1/106: {for load balancing, symmetrisation, or sharing} - H02J 13/12: Monitoring network conditions, e.g. electrical magnitudes or operational status - Y02E 60/00: Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation - Y02P 80/10: Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier - Y04S 10/30: State monitoring, e.g. fault, temperature monitoring, insulator monitoring, corona discharge - 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 - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY - Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION - Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS - 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 One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for regulating an amount of power on a power grid using a datacenter. This allows demand to be more closely brought into alignment with supply. For example, when supply exceeds demand by a predetermined level, the datacenter may increase consumption, causing demand to increase, and when demand exceeds supply and/or comes within a predetermined threshold of supply, the datacenter may decrease consumption, causing demand to decrease. In this way, the datacenter can be utilized as a regulatory tool on the grid. It may be appreciated that given the technology used by and/or operations performed by datacenters, datacenters are uniquely situated to achieve these ends as compared to other (large) energy consumers, such as manufacturing facilities that cannot shift around and/or shut-down operations swiftly. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method, comprising: receiving, at a power utility entity, information from a datacenter, the information being indicative of a throttling capacity of the datacenter to regulate power on a power grid configured to deliver electricity from electricity suppliers to the datacenter and to other consumers; based on the received information indicative of the throttling capacity of the datacenter, transmitting a request to the datacenter to increase or decrease a power load consumed by the datacenter in order to generally balance an electricity supply and demand on the power grid; and establishing an energy rate for any power consumed by the datacenter based at least in part upon the received information indicative of the throttling capacity of the datacenter. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the information is indicative of a current power demand of the datacenter. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the information is indicative of a forecasted power demand of the datacenter. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the throttling capacity of the datacenter corresponds to a minimum power consumption rate of the datacenter. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the throttling capacity of the datacenter corresponds to a maximum power consumption rate of the datacenter. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting the request includes: transmitting, from the power utility entity, a request to increase or decrease the power load consumed by the datacenter according to the throttling capacity of the datacenter and the electricity supply currently available via the power grid to the datacenter and the other consumers. ### Claim 7 A computing system, comprising: one or more processing units; and memory comprising instructions that when executed by at least one of the one or more processing units perform operations, comprising: transmitting, from a datacenter to a power utility entity, information indicative of a throttling capacity of the datacenter to regulate power on a power grid supplying power to the datacenter and other consumers on the power grid, wherein the datacenter includes multiple servers configured to consume power from the power grid; receiving, from the power utility entity, a request to adjust the power consumed by the datacenter in order to generally balance an electricity supply and demand on the power grid; and in response to receiving the request, adjusting the power consumed by one or more of the servers in the datacenter from the power grid associated with the power utility entity in order to generally balance the electricity supply and demand on the power grid. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The computing system of claim 7 wherein adjusting the power consumed by one or more of the servers includes: adjusting an amount of power consumed by one or more servers in the datacenter from the power grid within the throttling capacity of the datacenter. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The computing system of claim 7 wherein adjusting the power consumed by one or more of the servers includes changing a workload of the one or more servers in the datacenter. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The computing system of claim 7 wherein adjusting the power consumed by one or more of the servers includes creating a virtualized environment on the one or more servers in the datacenter, the virtualized environment being configured to execute a power consumption code configured to increase processor tasks and/or spin storage devices to convert electricity into heat. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The computing system of claim 7 wherein adjusting the power consumed by one or more of the servers includes: instructing the one or more servers in the datacenter to terminate one or more currently executed processes. ### Claim 12 A method for controlling power supply and consumption on a power grid, the method comprising: determining, at a datacenter, a current throttling capacity of the datacenter, the throttling capacity indicative of at least one of a maximum amount of power or a minimum amount of power currently consumable by the datacenter; transmitting, from the datacenter to a power utility entity, information indicative of the determined current throttling capacity of the datacenter to regulate power on a power grid supplying power to the datacenter and other consumers on the power grid associated with the power utility entity; receiving, from the power utility entity, a request to adjust the power consumed by the datacenter in accordance with the current throttling capacity of the datacenter; and in response to receiving the request from the power utility entity, adjusting the power consumed in the datacenter from the power grid in order to facilitate balancing an electricity supply and demand on the power grid. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12 wherein determining the current throttling capacity includes determining the current throttling capacity of the datacenter based on an amount of critical or non-critical tasks current performed in the datacenter. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12 wherein the datacenter includes multiple servers configured to execute one or more computing processes, and wherein adjusting the power consumed in the datacenter includes instructing one or more of the servers in the datacenter to terminate one or more of the processes currently executed on the one or more servers. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12 wherein the datacenter includes multiple servers configured to execute one or more computing processes, and wherein adjusting the power consumed in the datacenter includes instructing one or more of the servers in the datacenter to transfer one or more of the processes currently executed on the one or more servers to other servers in a different datacenter. ### Claim 16 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12 wherein the datacenter includes multiple servers configured to execute one or more computing processes, and wherein adjusting the power consumed in the datacenter includes instructing the one or more servers to create a virtualized environment on the one or more servers in the datacenter, the virtualized environment being configured to execute a power consumption code configured to increase processor loads and/or spin storage devices on the one or more servers to convert electricity into heat. ### Claim 17 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: in response to receiving the request, calculating an amount of power to be consumed by the datacenter in order to facilitate balancing the electricity supply and demand on the power grid; and wherein adjusting the power consumed in the datacenter includes adjusting the power consumed in the datacenter in accordance with the calculated mount of power to be consumed by the datacenter. ### Claim 18 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12 wherein: the datacenter includes a power generator at the datacenter; and adjusting the power consumed in the datacenter includes instructing the power generator to power up in order to supplement or replace power supplied by the power grid. ### Claim 19 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12 wherein: the power consumed by the datacenter is associated with a current energy rate; and wherein adjusting the power consumed in the datacenter includes adjusting the power consumed in the datacenter in accordance with the current energy rate. ### Claim 20 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12 wherein: the request is a first request; the datacenter includes multiple servers; adjusting the power consumed in the datacenter includes instructing the one or more servers to execute a power consumption code configured to increase a processor load and/or spin a storage device on the one or more servers to convert electricity into heat; and the method further includes: receiving, from the power utility entity, a second request to adjust the power consumed by the datacenter; and in response to receiving the second request from the power utility entity, instructing the one or more servers to terminate executing the power consumption code.