JP7660494B2 - Power management device, power management system, and power management program - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a power management device, a power management system, and a power management program that manage power for consumers.

The number of consumers who own storage batteries to reduce electricity bills, store natural energy, and secure emergency power sources is increasing, as is the number of consumers who own electric vehicles (EVs) equipped with storage batteries. Patent Document 1 discloses a technology for making effective use of storage batteries. In the technology described in Patent Document 1, for a storage battery installed in a building, the amount of power consumption by consumers in the building is predicted based on actual values, and a charging and discharging plan for the storage battery is created to optimize costs based on the prediction results and information on the price of electricity, such as the unit price of electricity by time period and the market price of electricity.

JP 2019-33566 A

On the other hand, in recent years, with the increase in trading products in the electricity market, opportunities for retail businesses to trade electricity and adjustment capacity are increasing. Retail businesses are required to pay an imbalance fee when a difference occurs between the planned demand curve and the actual value, and the unit price of the imbalance fee, which is the unit price of the imbalance fee, fluctuates according to the market price, so the amount of loss of retail businesses due to the occurrence of a shortage imbalance and the selling price of surplus electricity when an excess imbalance occurs fluctuate accordingly. It has been considered to eliminate the imbalance by adjusting the charging and discharging of storage batteries owned by consumers and adjusting load equipment that consumes electricity, but consumers will not cooperate with adjustments to avoid imbalances unless they have an incentive. The technology described in Patent Document 1 does not assume that consumers will cooperate with retail businesses in avoiding imbalances, and even if the technology described in Patent Document 1 is used, it is not possible to promote consumers' cooperation in retail businesses' avoiding imbalances. It is desired to promote consumers' cooperation in avoiding imbalances.

The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to provide a power management device that can encourage consumers to cooperate in avoiding imbalances.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the power management device according to the present disclosure includes an imbalance information acquisition unit that acquires a price signal, which is information determined based on an imbalance charge unit price and indicates the unit price of a consumer's profit for each time period when imbalance avoidance is performed using the consumer's power resources, and a demand forecasting unit that forecasts the consumer's power demand for a certain period using actual values of the consumer's power demand. The power management device further includes an operation plan creation unit that calculates, for each consumer, an index related to a profit when the consumer operates a power resource corresponding to imbalance avoidance for the certain period using a contract unit price, which is the unit price of electricity for each time period according to the consumer's rate plan, the price signal, and the prediction result by the demand forecasting unit, determines whether the consumer will perform imbalance avoidance for the certain period using the index, and creates an operation plan for the consumer's power resources for the certain period based on the result of this determination.

The power management device disclosed herein has the effect of encouraging consumers to cooperate in avoiding imbalances.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a power management system according to an embodiment; 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation plan creation process in a power management apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a second resource operation plan according to an embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a second resource operation plan in a case where surplus imbalance is avoided; FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a computer system that realizes a power management apparatus according to an embodiment.

The power management device, power management system, and power management program according to the embodiments are described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a power management system according to an embodiment. A power management system 4 according to the present embodiment includes a power management device 1 and a retailer device 2. The retailer device 2 is a device managed and operated by a power retailer. The power management device 1 is, for example, a device managed by a business called an aggregator that aggregates and manages the power of multiple consumers. Note that while FIG. 1 shows one consumer facility 3 that is a consumer facility, the power management device 1 generally manages the power of each of the consumer facilities 3 of multiple consumers.

The consumer equipment 3 includes load equipment that consumes electricity, storage batteries, solar power generation equipment, etc. The equipment that constitutes the consumer equipment 3 may differ depending on the consumer. The consumer equipment 3 is provided with an electric power metering device called a smart meter (not shown), and the metering device transmits the measured amount of electric power to the power management device 1. In addition, if the consumer equipment 3 is equipped with a storage battery, a power conditioner that controls the storage battery may transmit the measured value of the charging and discharging power of the storage battery to the power management device 1. In the case where the consumer equipment 3 is equipped with solar power generation equipment, the power conditioner that constitutes the solar power generation equipment may transmit the measured value of the generated power to the power management device 1.

Retail businesses are required to ensure that power generation and demand match in the planned values. When a difference occurs between the planned values and the actual values, and a shortage imbalance occurs in which demand exceeds power generation in the actual values, the retail business will pay a (shortage) imbalance fee to the electricity transmission and distribution business. When a difference occurs between the planned values and the actual values, and a surplus imbalance occurs in which power generation exceeds demand in the actual values, the retail business will purchase electricity from the electricity transmission and distribution business at a (surplus) imbalance fee. The imbalance fee unit price, which is the unit price of the imbalance fee for each shortage imbalance and surplus imbalance, is determined based on the market price of electricity, so the imbalance fee unit price fluctuates in accordance with fluctuations in the market price of electricity. It is desirable for retail businesses to avoid shortage imbalances as much as possible when the imbalance fee unit price is high. It is also desirable for retail businesses to avoid surplus imbalances as much as possible when the imbalance fee unit price is low.

In this embodiment, the retail business operator transmits a price signal to the power management device 1, which is information determined based on the imbalance charge unit price and indicates the consumer's profit when imbalance avoidance is performed using the consumer's power resources. The price signal is, for example, information indicating the unit price of the charge paid to the consumer when the consumer cooperates in avoiding the imbalance (hereinafter referred to as the consumer imbalance unit price) for each time period. For example, the retail business operator predicts the time period in which imbalance will occur based on the supply and demand plan of the electricity managed by the retail business operator, and determines the price signal using this prediction result and the imbalance charge unit price (predicted value of the imbalance charge price) based on the market price of electricity. Although not shown in the figure, the retail business operator manages consumers and power generation facilities other than the consumers under the aggregator that manages the power management device 1 shown in FIG. 1, and the above-mentioned supply and demand plan is a supply and demand plan for the entire managed area of the retail business operator. For example, for the time period in which imbalance is predicted not to occur, the retail business operator determines the consumer imbalance unit price based on the imbalance charge unit price, and sets the determined consumer imbalance unit price as the price signal. For example, a retailer may determine the consumer imbalance unit price by multiplying the imbalance charge unit price by a set ratio, such as setting the consumer imbalance unit price at 50% of the imbalance charge unit price, or may set the consumer imbalance unit price at a price obtained by subtracting a fixed amount from the imbalance charge unit price, or may determine the consumer imbalance unit price by a method other than these. In addition, a retailer may not set a price signal for time periods when no imbalance is predicted to occur. That is, for example, a retailer may set the price signal to 0 yen for time periods when no imbalance is predicted to occur.

In addition, the method of determining the price signal at the retailer is not limited to the above example, and the price signal may be determined so that the "power generation unit price (unit price) of the adjustment-required generator necessary to avoid imbalance" is greater than the "power generation unit price of the consumer managed by the aggregator." The power generation unit price of the consumer managed by the aggregator includes not only the unit price when power is generated by a generator, but also the apparent unit price of power generation by suppressing demand. For example, the retailer transmits the "power generation unit price of the consumer managed by the aggregator" to the power management device 1 as multiple patterns of price signals, and the power management device 1 creates a power generation plan for the consumer's power generation equipment using the multiple patterns of price signals. The retailer compares the power generation plan received from the power management device 1 with the power generation plan of the adjustment-required generator, and adopts the power generation plan with the lower cost.

The power management device 1 uses the price signal to create an operation plan for the consumer equipment 3 so as to suppress the costs borne by consumers who can adjust the amount of electricity demand or supply. For example, the power management device 1 acquires measurement values received from the metering device, power conditioner, etc. of the consumer equipment 3 as actual values, predicts the amount of electricity generated and consumed using the acquired actual values, and creates an operation plan for the consumer equipment 3 using the prediction results and information on electricity rates. The information on electricity rates includes the unit price of electricity by time period according to the rate plan subscribed to by each consumer, and the price signal acquired from the retailer device 2. The power management device 1 transmits the operation plan for each consumer and the rate information corresponding to the operation plan to the retailer device 2. The rate information transmitted by the power management device 1 is information indicating the conditions for settling the electricity rate for each consumer.

In this embodiment, the power management device 1 creates an operation plan using the price signal presented by the retailer to reduce the costs borne by consumers, so that an operation plan can be created that reduces the occurrence of imbalances while taking into account the benefits to consumers. This can encourage consumers to cooperate in avoiding imbalances.

As shown in FIG. 1, the power management device 1 of this embodiment includes a consumer information storage unit 11, a facility information storage unit 12, an imbalance information acquisition unit 13, a plan creation unit 14, a plan determination unit 15, a plan storage unit 16, a control execution unit 17, an actual value acquisition unit 18, a demand actual value storage unit 19, a demand forecasting unit 20, and a plan information transmission unit 21.

The consumer information storage unit 11 stores consumer information, which is information regarding charges for each consumer. The consumer information includes information indicating the unit price of electricity by time period according to the contract contents. The consumer information may include tolerance information indicating tolerance conditions for cooperation in avoiding imbalance. For consumers who do not specify tolerance conditions, that is, consumers who agree to avoid any imbalance, information indicating no restrictions is stored as tolerance information. For consumers who do not agree to avoid imbalance, information indicating that they do not agree to avoid imbalance is stored as tolerance information. When the consumer equipment 3 includes multiple facilities, tolerance conditions may be set for each facility. The information indicating the unit price of electricity by time period may be information indicating a rate plan corresponding to the consumer, or may be information indicating the unit price of electricity by time period itself. In the former case, the consumer information storage unit 11 stores rate plan information indicating the unit price of electricity by time period for each rate plan. Furthermore, if all consumers managed by the aggregator are on the same rate plan, rate plan information indicating the unit price of electricity for each time period for that rate plan needs to be stored in the consumer information storage unit 11, and the consumer rate information may include only tolerance information, or the consumer rate information itself may not be used. The consumer rate information may be stored in the consumer information storage unit 11 by being input by an operator using an input means (not shown), or may be transmitted from another device and stored in the consumer information storage unit 11.

The equipment information storage unit 12 stores equipment information, which is information about the consumer equipment 3 for each consumer. For example, for a consumer who owns a storage battery, the equipment information includes the capacity of the storage battery, upper and lower limits of the SOC (State Of Charge), and the rated value of the power conditioner that controls the storage battery, and for a consumer who owns a solar power generation facility, the equipment information includes the rated value of the solar power generation facility. The equipment information may be stored in the equipment information storage unit 12 by being input by an operator using an input means (not shown), or may be transmitted from another device and stored in the equipment information storage unit 12.

The imbalance information acquisition unit 13 receives a price signal from the retailer device 2 and outputs the received price signal to the plan creation unit 14.

The plan creation unit 14 and the plan determination unit 15 constitute the operation plan creation unit 22. The operation plan creation unit 22 calculates an index related to the profit when the consumer operates the power resource corresponding to the imbalance avoidance in a certain period of time using the contract unit price, which is the unit price of the electricity rate by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, the price signal, and the prediction result by the demand prediction unit 20. The operation plan creation unit 22 uses the index to determine whether the consumer will avoid the imbalance in a certain period of time, and creates an operation plan for the consumer's power resource based on the result of this determination. Specifically, the operation plan creation unit 22 creates an operation plan that reflects the consumer's operation corresponding to the imbalance avoidance based on the index when the consumer can obtain a profit by avoiding the imbalance. Note that in the example shown in FIG. 1, the plan creation unit 14 and the plan determination unit 15 are separate, but the operation plan creation unit 22 may be provided with an operation plan that integrates the plan determination unit 15 and the plan creation unit 14.

The plan creation unit 14 uses the forecast information indicating the forecast results by the demand forecast unit 20, the consumer information stored in the consumer information storage unit 11, the equipment information stored in the equipment information storage unit 12, and the price signal received from the imbalance information acquisition unit 13 to create an operation plan for a certain period of time for the power resources of the consumer equipment 3 for each consumer. The power resources are equipment capable of adjusting power, and include, for example, storage batteries and power generation equipment, but may also be load equipment if the power of the load equipment is adjustable. The certain period is, for example, one day until the next day, but is not limited to this, and may be two days or one week. In the following description, the certain period is one day until the next day.

Specifically, the plan creation unit 14 creates a first resource operation plan, which is an operation plan for the consumer equipment 3 when imbalance avoidance is not performed, and a second resource operation plan, which is an operation plan for the consumer equipment 3 when imbalance avoidance is performed, and stores them in the plan storage unit 16. The first resource operation plan and the second resource operation plan are created, for example, to optimize the consumer's profits. Optimizing the consumer's profits means, for example, minimizing the costs borne by the consumer. The plan creation unit 14 also stores the consumer's costs (expenses) corresponding to the first resource operation plan and the consumer's costs corresponding to the second resource operation plan in the plan creation unit 14. The plan creation unit 14 also stores information indicating the imbalance avoidance time period, which is a time period in which costs are calculated on the premise of cooperation in imbalance avoidance in the creation of the second resource operation plan, in the plan storage unit 16 in association with the second resource operation plan. The information indicating the imbalance avoidance time period includes information indicating whether the cooperation corresponds to the avoidance of a shortage imbalance or the avoidance of a surplus imbalance for each time period. Alternatively, information indicating the imbalance avoidance time period may be created for each of the avoidance of shortage imbalance and the avoidance of surplus imbalance. In addition, the plan creation unit 14 creates a supply and demand plan for the consumer based on the determination result by the plan determination unit 15, and stores the supply and demand plan in the plan storage unit 16.

The plan determination unit 15 uses the respective costs of the first resource operation plan and the second resource operation plan to determine, for each consumer, whether to use the first resource operation plan or the second resource operation plan, and notifies the plan creation unit 14 of the determination result. In detail, the plan determination unit 15 uses an index that is the difference between the cost corresponding to the first resource operation plan and the cost corresponding to the second resource operation plan to determine whether the consumer will avoid imbalance, and determines the operation plan of the consumer's power resources based on this determination result. This index is an index related to the profit when the consumer operates power resources corresponding to imbalance avoidance for a certain period of time, and specifically, for example, is the above-mentioned cost difference. The plan determination unit 15 leaves the determined operation plan of the first resource operation plan or the second resource operation plan in the plan storage unit 16, and deletes the other operation plan.

The control execution unit 17 controls the consumer equipment 3, which is a power resource, based on the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16. As shown in FIG. 1, the control execution unit 17 includes a command value creation unit 171 and a command value transmission unit 172. For example, for a storage battery among the consumer equipment 3, the command value creation unit 171 creates a command value for charging and discharging the storage battery by performing feedback control for each control period based on the measurement value, which is the actual value of the charging and discharging power acquired by the actual value acquisition unit 18 from the power conditioner that controls the storage battery, and the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16. The command value may be the charging power or the discharging power itself, or may be the amount by which the charging power is increased or the amount by which the discharging power is increased. The command value transmission unit 172 transmits the command value created by the command value creation unit 171 to the consumer equipment 3. The control period is, for example, one minute, and the measurement value is also acquired every minute, but the control period is not limited to this example. In addition, the control method of the consumer equipment 3 is not limited to this example.

The actual value acquisition unit 18 acquires the measured value of the amount of power from the metering device of the consumer equipment 3 and stores the measured value of the amount of power in the demand actual value storage unit 19. The actual value acquisition unit 18 also acquires the measured value of the amount of power generated from the consumer equipment 3 and stores the acquired measured value in the demand actual value storage unit 19 as the measured value of the amount of power generated. The measured value of the amount of power generated may be acquired by a metering device that measures only the amount of power generated, or may be a measured value measured by a power generation facility such as a measured value of a power conditioner in a solar power generation facility. Furthermore, the actual value acquisition unit 18 acquires a measured value related to the consumer equipment 3 that is to be controlled by the control execution unit 17 from the consumer equipment 3 and outputs the measured value to the control execution unit 17. For example, the actual value acquisition unit 18 acquires a measured value of the charging and discharging power of a storage battery in the consumer equipment 3 and outputs the acquired measured value to the control execution unit 17.

The demand forecasting unit 20 uses the actual value of the power demand of the consumer to predict the power demand of the consumer for a certain period of time, which is the period for which the operation plan is to be created. The demand and power generation are predicted using the power amount measurement value and the power generation amount measurement value stored in the demand actual value storage unit 19. As shown in FIG. 1, the demand forecasting unit 20 includes a power generation amount prediction unit 201 and a demand curve creation unit 202. The power generation amount prediction unit 201 predicts the power generation amount for each time period for the certain period for which the operation plan is to be created using the power generation amount measurement value stored in the demand actual value storage unit 19, and outputs the predicted power generation amount to the plan creation unit 14 as prediction information. Note that, forecast information such as weather and solar radiation amount acquired from a weather information providing device (not shown) may be used to predict the power generation amount. The demand curve creation unit 202 predicts a demand curve, which is the power consumption for each time period for a certain period of time, using the power amount measurement value stored in the demand actual value storage unit 19, and outputs the predicted demand curve to the plan creation unit 14 as prediction information. The demand curve creation unit 202 may, for example, take the average value calculated for each time period for each day of the week, or for each division between weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, as the demand curve, or may take the average value calculated for each time period divided by temperature as the demand curve. The method of predicting the amount of power generation and the method of predicting the demand curve are not limited to the above-mentioned examples, and any method may be used. Note that for consumers whose consumer facilities 3 do not include power generation facilities, the demand prediction unit 20 may predict the demand curve.

The plan information transmission unit 21 transmits the operation plan (the first resource operation plan or the second resource operation plan described above) and the supply and demand plan for each consumer stored in the plan storage unit 16 as plan information to the retail business device 2. At this time, if information indicating the imbalance avoidance time period associated with the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16 is stored, that is, if the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16 is the second resource operation plan, the plan information transmission unit 21 transmits the information indicating the imbalance avoidance time period as fee information together with the operation plan to the retail business device 2. Also, if the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16 is not associated with information indicating the imbalance avoidance time period, that is, if the operation plan stored in the plan storage unit 16 is the first resource operation plan, the plan information transmission unit 21 transmits information indicating that there is no imbalance avoidance time period as fee information together with the operation plan to the retail business device 2.

The retail business device 2 settles the electricity charges of each consumer based on the fee information received from the power management device 1. That is, for a consumer who cooperated in imbalance avoidance during a time period, the settlement is made according to the consumer imbalance unit price for the shortage imbalance or surplus imbalance during that time period. In this embodiment, the power management device 1 uses the consumer imbalance unit price to create an operation plan that avoids imbalance when there is an advantage for the consumer. This increases the likelihood that the retail business device 2 can avoid imbalance. Therefore, it is possible to reduce losses due to paying an imbalance fee when a shortage imbalance occurs or losses due to the difference between the procurement price and the purchase price of electricity when a surplus imbalance occurs, and the consumer can also obtain a profit.

In FIG. 1, the power management device 1 is a device managed by the aggregator. When the retailer and the aggregator are the same, the retailer device 2 and the power management device 1 may be integrated. That is, the power management device 1 shown in FIG. 1 may include a fee setting unit that sets a price signal based on a predicted value of the imbalance fee unit price based on the market price and a supply and demand plan. In this case, the imbalance information acquisition unit 13 acquires the price signal from the fee setting unit. The power management device 1 may also be a device managed by a large consumer such as a high-voltage consumer.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation plan creation process procedure in the power management device 1 of this embodiment. In the following, an example will be described in which the power resource is a storage battery, and a charge/discharge plan for the storage battery is created as an operation plan. The plan creation unit 14 of the power management device 1 sets the consumers for which the plan is to be created (step S1). For example, the plan creation unit 14 may assign an order for creating operation plans to each consumer in advance, or may create operation plans in the order of the consumer identification information. In step S1, the consumer for which an operation plan is to be created first is set as the consumer for which the plan is to be created.

Next, the plan creation unit 14 of the power management device 1 creates a first resource operation plan for a certain period of time using the forecast information, facility information, and time-of-day electricity rates (step S2). In detail, the plan creation unit 14 creates a first resource operation plan for the consumer for whom the plan is to be created, using the forecast information received from the demand forecast unit 20, the time-of-day electricity rates corresponding to the rate plan of the consumer for whom the plan is to be created, which are included in the consumer information stored in the consumer information storage unit 11, and the facility information stored in the facility information storage unit 12, and stores the plan in the plan storage unit 16. Here, the certain period is one day until the next day, as described above, and the first resource operation plan determines the charge and discharge amount of the storage battery, which is the power resource, for 48 frames, each of which is 30 minutes.

The plan creation unit 14 creates a charge/discharge plan by determining the charge/discharge amount for each time period so as to minimize the objective function, for example, with the cost borne by the consumer as an objective function and facility information as a constraint. The objective function can be expressed as the following formula (1), for example, assuming that the t-th (t is an integer from 1 to 48) time period in a certain period, the unit price of electricity in the t-th time period in the consumer's rate plan is C(t), the demand curve is P(t), and the charge/discharge amount is B(t). B(t) is assumed to be a positive value in the case of charging and a negative value in the case of discharging. Note that formula (1) assumes a consumer who does not own a power generation facility such as a solar power generation facility, but for a consumer who owns a power generation facility, the power generation amount is also taken into account in the objective function. The objective function is not limited to formula (1) and may include other charges. Note that Σ in formula (1) indicates the sum of 1 to 48.
Objective function=Σ{(P(t)+B(t))×C(t)}...(1)

The plan creation unit 14 calculates B(t) for each time period so as to minimize the objective function or so as to make the value of the objective function equal to or less than a predetermined value. As a result, for example, if a consumer's rate plan has a lower unit price for electricity at night than during the day, the consumer's expenses can be reduced by charging at night some of the electricity consumed by the consumer during the day. Note that, although an example using an objective function is described here, this is not limited to this, and a charge/discharge plan may be created according to a predetermined rule to perform control called peak shifting or peak cutting. For example, this rule is a rule to discharge the storage battery during a specified time period when electricity rates are high and charge the storage battery during a specified time period when electricity rates are low, but is not limited to this example.

Next, the plan creation unit 14 of the power management device 1 creates a second resource operation plan for a certain period of time using the forecast information, facility information, time-of-day electricity rates, tolerance conditions, and price signals (step S3). In detail, the plan creation unit 14 creates a second resource operation plan for the consumer for which the plan is to be created, using the forecast information received from the demand forecast unit 20, the time-of-day electricity rates corresponding to the rate plan of the consumer for which the plan is to be created, which are included in the consumer information stored in the consumer information storage unit 11, the tolerance conditions indicated by the tolerance information included in the consumer information stored in the consumer information storage unit 11, and the facility information stored in the facility information storage unit 12, and stores the second resource operation plan in the plan storage unit 16.

The plan creation unit 14 creates the second resource operation plan by shifting the time period for discharging, for example, so that discharging is performed during the time period when the consumer imbalance unit price of the shortage imbalance is the highest within a certain period. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the second resource operation plan of this embodiment. The upper part of FIG. 3 shows a contract unit price 51, which is the unit price of electricity by time period corresponding to the consumer's rate plan, and a consumer imbalance unit price 52 of the shortage imbalance. In the upper part of FIG. 3, the horizontal axis is time, and the vertical axis is unit price. The lower part of FIG. 3 shows a demand curve 53, which is the consumer's power consumption by time period, and a charging time period 54 and a discharging time period 55 in the first resource operation plan. As shown in FIG. 3, in the first resource operation plan, the storage battery is charged during the time period when the unit price of the electricity rate is low on the demand curve 53, and discharged during the time period when the unit price of the electricity rate is high on the demand curve 53, thereby suppressing the cost borne by the consumer. On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the consumer imbalance unit price of the shortage imbalance is highest in the time period from time tm. Therefore, the plan creation unit 14 creates the second resource operation plan, for example, by shifting the time period for discharging the storage battery from the discharging time period 55 in the first resource operation plan to the discharging time period 56 after time tm.

Here, when a change is made from the first resource operation plan to avoid imbalance, the value obtained by multiplying the consumer imbalance unit price by the change in the amount of power to avoid imbalance (hereinafter referred to as the imbalance avoidance change amount) is paid to the retailer. In the example shown in FIG. 3, since there is an overlap between the discharge time period 55 and the discharge time period 56, the time period excluding the overlapping time period in the discharge time period 56 is the imbalance avoidance time period, and the amount of power discharged during the imbalance avoidance time period is the imbalance avoidance change amount. In the example shown in FIG. 3, since the total amount of power purchased by the consumer from the retailer during the time period when the contract unit price 51 is high does not change, the electricity rate based on the rate plan is the same as the first resource operation plan, and the profit is the value obtained by multiplying the consumer imbalance unit price of the shortage imbalance by the imbalance avoidance change amount. Therefore, the cost borne by the consumer is the value obtained by subtracting the value obtained by multiplying the consumer imbalance unit price of the shortage imbalance by the imbalance avoidance change amount from the electricity rate based on the rate plan.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, the consumer imbalance price for shortage imbalance was highest during the time period when the contract unit price 51 was high, but there are also cases where the consumer imbalance price for shortage imbalance was highest during the time period when the contract unit price 51 was high. In such a case, discharging the storage battery during the time period when the contract unit price 51 was low would make it impossible to discharge during the time period when the contract unit price 51 was high. Therefore, the plan creation unit 14 changes the discharge time when the unit price of electricity for the time period when discharge was scheduled to occur in the first resource operation plan is lower than the consumer imbalance price for shortage imbalance, and does not change the discharge time when the unit price of electricity for the time period when discharge was scheduled to occur in the first resource operation plan is equal to or higher than the consumer imbalance price for shortage imbalance. If the unit price of electricity for the time period during which discharge was scheduled to occur in the first resource operation plan is equal to or higher than the consumer imbalance unit price of the shortage imbalance, the plan creation unit 14 may create a second resource operation plan to shift the discharge time to a time period during which the consumer imbalance unit price of the shortage imbalance is the highest within the time period during which discharge is scheduled to occur in the first resource operation plan and the contract unit price 51 is the same.

In addition, in the first resource operation plan, if power remains stored in the storage battery even after discharging during the discharge time period 55, the second resource operation plan may be created by extending the discharge time period.

Similarly, for the surplus imbalance, the plan creation unit 14 can create a second resource operation plan by, for example, changing the charging time period to a time period in which the imbalance fee unit price for the surplus imbalance is the highest among the time periods in which the contract unit price 51 is low. In addition, if the imbalance fee unit price for the surplus imbalance is greater than 0 yen in a time period in which discharging is performed in the first resource operation plan, the plan creation unit 14 can create a second resource operation plan in such a way that discharging is not performed in that time period.

Returning to the explanation of FIG. 2, the plan determination unit 15 judges whether the value obtained by subtracting the cost corresponding to the second resource operation plan from the cost corresponding to the first resource operation plan (cost borne by the consumer) is greater than a threshold value (step S4). The threshold value may be set to a value equal to or greater than 0. As described above, the plan memory unit 16 stores the first resource operation plan and the second resource operation plan together with their corresponding costs, and the plan determination unit 15 makes the judgment of step S4 by referring to the plan memory unit 16.

If step S4 is Yes, the plan determination unit 15 selects the second resource operation plan (step S5), determines whether calculations for all consumers have been completed (step S7), and if calculations for all consumers have been completed (step S7 Yes), ends the operation plan creation process. In detail, in step S5, the plan creation unit 14 decides to use the second resource operation plan as the consumer operation plan, and deletes the first resource operation plan from the plan memory unit 16.

If the answer is No in step S4, the plan determination unit 15 selects the first resource operation plan (step S6) and proceeds to step S7. In detail, in step S6, the plan creation unit 14 determines to use the first resource operation plan as the consumer's operation plan and deletes the second resource operation plan from the plan memory unit 16.

If the answer is No in step S7, the consumer for which the plan is to be created is changed (step S8), and the process is repeated from step S2. In detail, the plan determination unit 15 instructs the plan creation unit 14 to change the consumer for which the plan is to be created, and the plan creation unit 14 changes the consumer for which the plan is to be created.

The above process creates an operation plan for the consumer's power resources. In the above example, the imbalance is avoided by charging and discharging the storage battery. However, if the consumer's power consumption, i.e., demand, can be adjusted, the imbalance may be avoided by changing the power consumption. In this case, the conditions under which the consumer can change the power consumption are defined as allowable information in the consumer information. For example, in the case of a consumer that can shift the daytime power consumption up to a certain amount for a certain period of time, this certain amount and the certain period of time are included in the allowable information. This allows the plan determination unit 15 to create a second resource operation plan that reflects the imbalance avoidance to the extent that the consumer can handle. In this case, since the power management device 1 may not be able to directly control the consumer's load, the consumer may adjust the consumer equipment 3 based on the second resource operation plan.

For example, in a consumer with a storage battery, an operation schedule may be set so that charging starts from the time when the unit price of electricity varies by time period according to the rate plan subscribed to by each consumer. The plan creation unit 14 may create a second resource operation plan by shifting the time when charging of the storage battery starts to a later time within a range that satisfies constraints such as the capacity of the storage battery.

The price signal may be given as a unit price of electricity charges by time period. In this case, the price signal is set so that the total payment amount for those who cooperate in avoiding the imbalance is not higher than those who do not cooperate in avoiding the imbalance. For example, if the unit price set in the normal contract is 25 yen during the day and 10 yen at night, and the price signal is set to 40 yen during the day and 20 yen at night, the profit from peak shifting will be higher when the price signal is adopted than when the normal electricity rate is adopted, but the total electricity rate will be higher than when the price signal is not adopted, so this setting is not used. The definition of the price signal and the method of calculating the fee using the price signal are not limited to the above example, and the plan creation unit 14 may calculate the cost corresponding to the second resource operation plan according to the definition of the price signal set by the retailer and the method of calculating the fee using the price signal.

Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of a second resource operation plan when avoiding excess imbalance. In the example shown in Figure 4, the upper part shows the consumer imbalance unit price 57 of the excess imbalance. The lower part of Figure 4 shows a first resource operation plan 58 and a second resource operation plan 59. In this case, the plan determination unit 15 increases the consumer's power consumption during the time period in which the consumer imbalance unit price 57 is set, and reduces the power consumption by that amount during another time period. This allows the consumer to obtain a profit according to the consumer imbalance unit price of the excess imbalance.

Next, the hardware configuration of the power management device 1 of this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the power management device 1 functions as the power management device 1 by executing a computer program on the computer system, which is a computer program that describes the processing in the power management device 1. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a computer system that realizes the power management device 1 of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, this computer system includes a control unit 101, an input unit 102, a memory unit 103, a display unit 104, a communication unit 105, and an output unit 106, which are connected via a system bus 107.

In FIG. 5, the control unit 101 is a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and executes a program in which the processing in the power management device 1 of this embodiment is described. The input unit 102 is composed of, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and is used by the user of the computer system to input various information. The storage unit 103 includes various memories such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) and a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a storage device such as a hard disk, and stores the program to be executed by the control unit 101, necessary data obtained in the process of processing, and the like. The storage unit 103 is also used as a temporary storage area for the program. The display unit 104 is composed of a display, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display Panel), and the like, and displays various screens to the user of the computer system. The communication unit 105 is a receiver and a transmitter that perform communication processing. The output unit 106 is a printer, a speaker, and the like. Note that FIG. 5 is an example, and the configuration of the computer system is not limited to the example of FIG. 5.

Here, an example of the operation of the computer system until the program of this embodiment is in a state where it can be executed will be described. In the computer system having the above-mentioned configuration, for example, a computer program is installed in the storage unit 103 from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM set in a CD (Compact Disc)-ROM drive or DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)-ROM drive (not shown). Then, when the program is executed, the program read from the storage unit 103 is stored in the main memory area of the storage unit 103. In this state, the control unit 101 executes the processing as the power management device 1 of this embodiment according to the program stored in the storage unit 103.

In the above description, a program describing the processing in the power management device 1 is provided on a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM as a recording medium. However, this is not limiting, and depending on the configuration of the computer system and the capacity of the program provided, for example, a program provided over a transmission medium such as the Internet via the communication unit 105 may be used.

The power management program of this embodiment causes the computer system to execute, for example, the steps of acquiring a price signal and predicting the power demand of a consumer for a certain period of time using the actual value of the consumer's power demand. The power management program of this embodiment further causes the computer system to execute the steps of calculating an index relating to the profit when the consumer operates power resources corresponding to imbalance avoidance during a certain period of time using a contract unit price, which is the unit price of electricity by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, the price signal, and the predicted result of power demand, determining whether the consumer will avoid imbalance during the certain period of time using the index, and creating an operation plan for the consumer's power resources based on the result of this determination.

The plan creation unit 14, the plan determination unit 15, the control execution unit 17, and the demand forecast unit 20 shown in FIG. 1 are realized by executing the computer program stored in the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 5 by the control unit 101 shown in FIG. 5. The storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 5 is also used to realize the plan creation unit 14, the plan determination unit 15, the control execution unit 17, and the demand forecast unit 20 shown in FIG. 1. The consumer information storage unit 11, the equipment information storage unit 12, the plan storage unit 16, and the demand actual value storage unit 19 shown in FIG. 1 are part of the storage unit 103 shown in FIG. 5. The imbalance information acquisition unit 13, the actual value acquisition unit 18, and the plan information transmission unit 21 shown in FIG. 1 are realized by the communication unit 105 shown in FIG. 5. The power management device 1 may also be realized by multiple computer systems. For example, the power management device 1 may be realized by a cloud computer system.

As described above, in this embodiment, the power management device 1 creates an operation plan for the consumer's power resources using the price signal presented by the retailer to reduce the costs borne by the consumer. This makes it possible to reduce the occurrence of imbalances while taking into account the consumer's benefits, thereby encouraging consumers to cooperate in avoiding imbalances.

The configurations shown in the above embodiments are merely examples, and may be combined with other known technologies, or the embodiments may be combined with each other. In addition, parts of the configurations may be omitted or modified without departing from the spirit of the invention.

1 Power management device, 2 Retail business device, 3 Customer equipment, 4 Power management system, 11 Customer information storage unit, 12 Equipment information storage unit, 13 Imbalance information acquisition unit, 14 Plan creation unit, 15 Plan decision unit, 16 Plan storage unit, 17 Control execution unit, 18 Actual value acquisition unit, 19 Demand actual value storage unit, 20 Demand forecast unit, 21 Plan information transmission unit, 22 Operation plan creation unit, 171 Command value creation unit, 172 Command value transmission unit, 201 Power generation forecast unit, 202 Demand curve creation unit.

Claims (10)

an imbalance information acquisition unit that acquires a price signal, which is information determined based on the imbalance charge unit price and indicates the unit price of a consumer's profit for each time period when imbalance avoidance is performed using the consumer's power resources;
A demand forecasting unit that forecasts the electric power demand of the consumer for a certain period of time using an actual value of the electric power demand of the consumer;
an operation plan creation unit that calculates , for each consumer, an index related to a profit when the consumer operates the power resource corresponding to imbalance avoidance during the certain period using a contract unit price, which is a unit price of electricity by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, the price signal, and a prediction result by the demand prediction unit, determines whether the consumer will avoid imbalance during the certain period using the index, and creates an operation plan for the consumer's power resource during the certain period based on the result of this determination;
A power management device comprising: The power management device according to claim 1, characterized in that the power resource includes a storage battery. The power management device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the index is the difference in cost borne by the consumer between a case where the power resource corresponding to the imbalance avoidance is not operated and a case where the power resource corresponding to the imbalance avoidance is operated. The power management device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the operation plan creation unit creates the operation plan that reflects the operation of the consumer to avoid the imbalance when the consumer can benefit from avoiding the imbalance based on the index. a fee setting unit that determines the price signal based on the imbalance fee unit price;
5. The power management device according to claim 1, further comprising: a control execution unit that controls the power resources based on the operation plan;
6. The power management device according to claim 1, further comprising: 7. The power management device according to claim 1, wherein the certain period is a day from the next day. 8. The power management device according to claim 1, wherein the price signal is determined by multiplying the imbalance fee unit price by a predetermined ratio. a retailer device that determines a price signal, which is information determined based on an imbalance charge unit price and indicates a unit price of a consumer's profit for each time period when imbalance avoidance is performed using the consumer's power resources;
A power management device that creates an operation plan for the power resource of the consumer;
Equipped with
The power management device includes:
an imbalance information acquisition unit that acquires the price signal from the retailer device;
A demand forecasting unit that forecasts the electric power demand of the consumer for a certain period of time using an actual value of the electric power demand of the consumer;
an operation plan creation unit that calculates , for each consumer, an index related to a profit when the consumer operates the power resource corresponding to imbalance avoidance during the certain period using a contract unit price, which is a unit price of electricity by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, the price signal, and a prediction result by the demand prediction unit, determines whether the consumer will avoid imbalance during the certain period using the index, and creates an operation plan for the consumer's power resource during the certain period based on the result of this determination;
A power management system comprising: In the computer system,
A step of acquiring a price signal, which is information determined based on the imbalance charge unit price and indicates the unit price of a consumer's profit for each time period when imbalance avoidance is performed using the consumer's power resources;
forecasting the power demand of the consumer for a certain period of time using an actual value of the power demand of the consumer;
a step of calculating, for each consumer, an index relating to the profit when the consumer operates the power resource corresponding to imbalance avoidance during the certain period using a contract unit price, which is a unit price of electricity by time period according to the consumer's rate plan, the price signal, and the forecast result of the power demand, determining whether the consumer will avoid imbalance during the certain period using the index, and creating an operation plan for the consumer's power resource during the certain period based on the result of this determination;
A power management program that causes a power management system to execute the above steps.

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