Allocating and controlling multiple distributed energy resources, coordinated in real-time in an optimal and cost-effective way that includes the ability for the electric utility to leverage these resources for improved system operation, reliability, and resiliency, requires a sophisticated solutions with a higher level of intelligence than current commercial products offer. DER can solar PV, energy storage, fuel cells, microturbines, diesel generators, electric vehicles, price responsive load (or demand response), and other resources.
With support from the Dept. of Energy, through the Office of Science and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Nhu Energy is currently in Phase II of development and demonstration of a new highly-effective optimal control technology, Advanced Optimal Resource Allocation (AORA)[1].
This model predictive optimization and control application takes into account current and predicted load, grid price, and variable resource generation (such as solar or wind), along with capacity and operating constraints for each resource, to achieve significant cost reduction and improved resource utilization over traditional methods.
The system under development includes a distributed tiered architecture that facilitates wide-area utility control utilizing local clusters of resources.
