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Patent US10298013
Issued 2019-05-21
Systems And Methods For Integrating Demand Response With Service Restoration In An Electric Distribution System
Systems and methods for integrating demand response with service restoration in an electric distribution system. The electric distribution system may include a plurality of regions, zones, and/or areas including at least an outage area that includes a fault and is not receiving electric current from the electric distribution system and a restoration area that is receiving electric current from the electric distribution system and that may be selectively configured to provide electric current to a selected portion of the outage area. The electric distribution system also includes a plurality of demand responsive loads configured to be selectively isolated from the electric distribution system responsive to a load shed signal. The demand responsive loads may be selectively utilized during service restoration, such as to provide additional excess capacity within the restoration area and/or decrease a magnitude of the electric load applied by the selected portion of the outage area.
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- 1. A method of restoring electrical service to a first portion of an electric distribution system, wherein the first portion includes at least a sub-portion of an outage area, wherein the outage area includes a fault and is not receiving an electric current from the electric distribution system, and further wherein the electric distribution system is in electrical communication with a plurality of demand responsive loads, the method comprising:
identifying a restoration area, wherein the restoration area includes a portion of the electric distribution system that is receiving the electric current from the electric distribution system and is selectively configured to provide the electric current to the first portion of the electric distribution system; determining an expected fault reparation time; forecasting an estimated electrical load within the first portion of the electric distribution system during the expected fault reparation time; forecasting an excess capacity of the restoration area during the expected fault reparation time; forecasting, the operation of the plurality of demand responsive loads during the expected fault reparation time; determining that the forecasted estimated electrical load is less than the excess capacity of the restoration area for a first portion of the expected fault reparation time; determining that the forecasted estimated electrical load is greater than the excess capacity of the restoration area for a second portion of the expected fault reparation time following the first portion of the expected fault reparation time; selecting one or more of the plurality of demand responsive loads to be reduced during the second portion of the expected fault reparation time but not during the first portion of the expected fault reparation time such that the excess capacity of the restoration area is increased to a value greater than the estimated electrical load during the second portion of the expected fault reparation time or such that the estimated electrical load is decreased to a value less than the excess capacity of the restoration area during the second portion of the expected fault reparation time; providing the electric current from the restoration area to the first portion of the electric distribution system; transmitting a load shed signal to the selected one or more of the plurality of demand responsive loads, the load shed signal being configured to reduce power consumption from the selected one or more demand responsive loads during the second portion of the expected fault reparation time; notifying a customer of a future load isolation event during a notification time interval which follows transmitting the load shed signal; waiting for the notification time interval after transmitting the load shed signal; and isolating the selected one or more of the plurality of demand responsive loads from the electric distribution system after the notification time interval.
- 9. A method of restoring electrical service to a first portion of an electric distribution system, the method comprising:
forecasting an estimated electrical load within the first portion of the electric distribution system during an expected fault reparation time; forecasting an excess capacity of a restoration area during the expected fault reparation time; forecasting the operation of a plurality of demand responsive loads configured to reduce power consumption in response to receiving a load shed signal; determining that the excess capacity exceeds the estimated electrical load during a first portion of the expected fault reparation time; determining that the estimated electrical load exceeds the excess capacity during a second portion of the expected fault reparation time; selecting one or more of the plurality of demand responsive loads to receive a load shed signal with respect to the second portion of the expected fault reparation time such that excess capacity exceeds the estimated electrical load and not to receive a load shed signal with respect to the first portion of the expected fault reparation time; providing an electric current from the restoration area to the first portion of the electric distribution system; transmitting the load shed signal to the selected one or more of the plurality of demand responsive loads, the load shed signal being configured to reduce power consumption from the selected one or more demand responsive loads during the second portion of the expected fault preparation time; waiting for a notification time interval after transmitting the load shed signal during which a customer is notified of an upcoming demand responsive load isolation event; and isolating the selected one or more of the plurality of demand responsive loads from the electric distribution system after waiting for the notification time interval.
