Technical field of the present invention

The present invention relates to a system as well as a method allowing / enabling its users to offer and/or to sell a flexibility potential of at least one of their energy assets or energy-related assets, for example electric cars, storage batteries, heat pumps, combined heat and power (CHP) units, etc.

Technological background of the present invention

Comparable systems and methods may be known in the art but their efficiency and/or usability are/is limited, and they do not correspond to current user demands.

Disclosure of the present invention: object, solution, advantages

Starting from the disadvantages and shortcomings as described above as well as taking the prior art as discussed into account, an object of the present invention is to overcome the limitations and problems that earlier systems and earlier methods have experienced.

This object is accomplished by a system comprising the features of claim 1 as well as by a method comprising the features of claim 14. Advantageous embodiments, expedient improvements and other optional features of the present invention are set forth herein and disclosed in the respective dependent claims.

There is basically provided herein a distributed system and method to activate small flexible assets in electricity grids; more particularly, there is provided herein a system as well as a method for enabling at least one user to offer and/or to sell a potential of flexibility of at least one energy-related asset, said system and said method comprising

(1) at least one hardware gateway or hardware unit to control the asset,

(2) at least one, in particular distributed, algorithm for offer and purchase of the flexibility,

(3) at least one distributed ledger or ledger network to store data and to execute the algorithm, and

(4) at least one interface for the user to communicate the flexibility to at least one third party.

The system as well as the method are intended to activate flexibilities in the electricity grid avoiding interfering with the existing regulatory framework.

Flexibility (potential) may be offered separately from conventional supply within a separate contractual agreement between the flexibility owner and the flexibility purchaser.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the asset may be at least one charging point for electric vehicles, at least one electric car, at least one storage battery, at least one heat pump or at least one combined heat and power (CHP) unit.

In an expedient embodiment of the present invention, the hardware gateway or hardware unit may be connected to the asset directly or through at least one energy management system.

According to a favoured embodiment of the present invention, the hardware gateway or hardware unit may comprise at least one protocol to communicate with the asset in a bidirectional way.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, status information and other parameters provided by at least one internal control unit may be sent from the hardware gateway or hardware unit to the distributed ledger or ledger network.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the hardware gateway or hardware unit may provide at least one secure communication channel to the distributed ledger or ledger network, in particular by means of local area network (LAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), long term evolution (LTE) or PowerLine.

According to an expedient embodiment of the present invention, the hardware gateway or hardware unit may host at least one light node in the distributed ledger or ledger network, in particular for control and transparency purposes.

In a favoured embodiment of the present invention, the algorithm may be executed automatically.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, when executing the algorithm, at least one smart contract (SC) may be used to collect at least one flexibility offer from at least one owner of the asset through the interface.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the algorithm may compare at least one flexibility demand from the third party to the collected flexibility offer(s), in particular in discrete timesteps.

In an expedient embodiment of the present invention, the interface may be used by the owner to access his/her complete transaction history, to view account balance, to track asset status and/or to submit at least one active bid for a given timeframe to at least one smart contract (SC).

According to a favoured embodiment of the present invention, the interface may be at least one smartphone application.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the third party is at least one charging point operator (CPO) or distribution system operator (DSO).

The present invention finally relates to the use of at least one system of the above-described type as at least one energy management system, said system(s) in particular operable by means of the method of the above-described type.

Brief description of the drawings

For a more complete understanding of the present embodiment disclosures and as already discussed above, there are several options to embody as well as to improve the teaching of the present invention in an advantageous manner. To this aim, reference may be had to the claims dependent on claim 1 ; further improvements, features and advantages of the present invention are explained below in more detail with reference to the particular and preferred embodiments by way of non-limiting example and to the appended drawing figures taken in conjunction with the following description of exemplary embodiments, of which:

Fig. 1 shows a schematical embodiment of a system according to the present invention, said system embodiment working according to the method of the present invention.

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the system(s) and method(s) provided herein and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the system(s) and and method(s) provided herein and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles described herein but are not intended to limit the specification or any of the claims.

Detailed description of the drawings; best way of embodying the present invention

Before explaining the present inventive embodiments in detail, it is to be understood that the embodiments are not limited in its respective application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, if any, since the present invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

In the following description,

(i) terms such as horizontal, upright, vertical, above, below, beneath and the like, are to be used solely for the purpose of clarity illustrating the present invention and should not be taken as words of limitation,

(ii) the term "mobile" means wireless adjustments and controls of the present invention by phone, computer, laptop, notebook, tablet and cloud computing,

(iii) the drawings are for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and are not intended to be to scale.

Basically, the system 100 as well as the corresponding method of Fig. 1 enables at least one user to offer and/or to sell a potential of flexibility of at least one energy-related asset 10, comprising

(1) at least one hardware unit 20 for asset control and data storage and distribution;

(2) at least one distributed ledger 40 for data storage and algorithm execution;

(3) at least one flexibility assignment algorithm 30;

(4) at least one user interface 50.

The functions of each element are described below:

(1) Hardware unit 20 for asset control and data storage and distribution:

The hardware unit 20 may be either connected to the flexible asset 10 (for example charging point for EV, heat pump, CHP) directly or through an energy management system.

It may comprise means through at least one interface 50 and a corresponding protocol to communicate with the asset 10 in a bidirectional way.

Control signals can be sent to the device, status information and other parameters provided by the internal control unit can be sent from device to the distributed ledger 40.

The hardware unit 20 my also provide a secure communication channel to the distributed ledger 40 through LAN, WIFI, LTE, Powerline or any other state-of-the-art technology.

Furthermore, the unit may be capable of hosting a light node in the distributed ledger network 40 for control and transparency purposes.

(2) Distributed ledger 40 for data storage and algorithm execution:

As described in (1), the light node running on the hardware unit 20 may form a distributed network of flexible assets 10.

It may both be used to document actions executed by the assets 10 (i.e. that a charging event with a fixed power has taken place for a defined time interval) and also to execute distributed algorithms 30, so-called Smart Contracts (SCs).

Smart Contracts (SCs) may be used to collect flexibility offers from the owner through the interface 50, document which bids will be activated, activate bids by the purchaser, confirm delivery of service and compensate the users financially for their service.

(3) Flexibility assignment algorithm 30:

The algorithm 30 may compare flexibility demand of the third party 60 (CPO, DSO) to flexibility offers from owners obtained through (4) in discrete timesteps.

For each timestep flexibility offers may be selected such that the boundary conditions implied on the third party 60 are matched in an economic way.

The algorithm 30 may find an optimum to both fulfill the input of asset owners and the boundary conditions of third parties 60.

The outcome of the calculation, which may be executed on one of the authority nodes validating the transactions may be written to the distributed ledger 40 and may subsequently be used as input to another Smart Contract (SC) which in turn may trigger the flexible asset 10 to reduce or increase its power within the calculated timestep.

The increase/reduction may also be measured and documented on the distributed ledger 40 via a separate Smart Contract (SC).

Upon successful delivery, a Smart Contract (SC) may trigger the payment agreed upon in the bid.

(4) User interface 50:

The user interface 50, for example a smartphone, may be used by the asset owner to access his/her complete transaction history, view account balance, track asset status and also to submit active bids for a given timeframe to a Smart Contract (SC).

Bidding can also be executed by an automated agent running on the user interface 50.

It will be understood that the embodiments described herein are merely exemplary, and that a person skilled in the art may make variations and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. All such variations and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention as described herein and provided in the appended claims. Further, it should be understood that all embodiments described above and disclosed herein are not necessarily in the alternative as various embodiments of the present invention can be combined, in particular to provide the desired result. List of reference signs

100 system

10 asset, in particular energy-related asset, for example charging point for electric vehicles, electric car, storage battery, heat pump or combined heat and power (CHP) unit 20 hardware gateway or hardware unit 30 algorithm, in particular distributed algorithm 40 distributed ledger or ledger network 50 interface, in particular user interface

60 third party, in particular charging point operator (CPO) or distribution system operator (DSO)