CN-122026628-A - Optimized renewable fuel production using a microgrid controller

CN122026628ACN 122026628 ACN122026628 ACN 122026628ACN-122026628-A

Abstract

The microgrid controller may determine, based on the load information and the energy resource information, that a set of renewable energy-based (REB) energy resource systems is producing excess renewable energy resources relative to a load demand on the microgrid, calculate an amount of excess renewable energy resources produced by the set of REB energy resource systems, send a start-up command to a plant auxiliary (BOP) controller to start up an electrolyzer based on the set of REB energy resource systems producing excess renewable energy resources, send a communication signal to the BOP controller indicating the amount of excess renewable energy resources to initiate production of renewable fuel in an amount proportional to the amount of excess renewable energy resources based on receiving a ready status from the BOP controller indicating that the electrolyzer has been successfully started up, and schedule the excess renewable energy resources to the electrolyzer to produce the renewable fuel.

Inventors

C. SHAA
S. Nash
G. S. Hassler

Assignees

卡特彼勒公司

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20251031
Priority Date: 20241111

Claims (10)

1. A microgrid controller, the microgrid controller comprising: A communication interface configured to receive load information corresponding to a plurality of loads connected to a micro grid, to receive energy resource information corresponding to a plurality of energy resource systems configured to supply power to the micro grid, to communicate with a plant auxiliary equipment (BOP) controller, and to output a control signal to the BOP controller for regulating renewable fuel production of an electrolyzer, Wherein the plurality of energy resource systems includes a set of Renewable Energy Based (REB) energy resource systems configured to generate renewable energy; One or more memories, and One or more of the processors of the present invention, the one or more processors are communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and configured to: determining that the set of REB energy resource systems is producing excess renewable energy with respect to load demands of the plurality of loads based on the load information and the energy resource information, and calculating an amount of excess renewable energy produced by the set of REB energy resource systems, Based on the set of REB energy resource systems producing the excess renewable energy, sending a start-up command to the BOP controller for starting the electrolyzer, Dispatching at least a portion of said excess renewable energy source to said electrolyzer to start said electrolyzer, Based on receiving a ready state from the BOP controller indicating that the electrolyzer has been successfully started, sending a communication signal to the BOP controller indicating the amount of excess renewable energy source to initiate production of renewable fuel in an amount proportional to the amount of excess renewable energy source, and The excess renewable energy source is scheduled to the electrolyzer to produce the renewable fuel.
2. The microgrid controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: Continuously or periodically updating the amount of excess renewable energy to a current amount of excess renewable energy produced by the set of REB energy resource systems based on the load information and the energy resource information, Providing an update of said current amount of excess renewable energy to said BOP controller to regulate said amount of renewable fuel produced by said electrolyzer, and The current amount of excess renewable energy source is scheduled to the electrolyzer to produce the amount of renewable fuel proportional to the current amount of excess renewable energy source.
3. The microgrid controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: The start command to start the electrolyzer is sent to the BOP controller based on the amount of excess renewable energy meeting a threshold.
4. The microgrid controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: monitoring said amount of excess renewable energy produced by said set of REB energy resource systems based on said load information and said energy resource information, Determining that the set of REB energy resource systems is no longer producing excess renewable energy relative to the load demand based on the load information and the energy resource information, and And sending a stop command to the BOP controller for closing the electrolyzer based on the set of REB energy resource systems not reproducing the excess renewable energy.
5. The microgrid controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: monitoring said amount of excess renewable energy produced by said set of REB energy resource systems based on said load information and said energy resource information, Predicting an energy shortage based on the load information and the energy resource information, the energy shortage indicating that the set of REB energy resource systems will not produce excess renewable energy relative to the load demand for more than a threshold amount of time, and A stop command to shut down the electrolyzer is sent to the BOP controller based on the prediction of the energy shortage.
6. The microgrid controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: monitoring said amount of excess renewable energy produced by said set of REB energy resource systems based on said load information and said energy resource information, Predicting a temporary energy shortage based on the load information and the energy resource information, the temporary energy shortage indicating that the set of REB energy resource systems will not produce the excess renewable energy with respect to the load demand for less than a threshold amount of time, and A standby command to place the electrolyzer in a standby mode of operation is sent to the BOP controller based on the prediction of the temporary energy shortage.
7. The microgrid controller of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: Based on the threshold amount of time passing, a restart command to resume production of the renewable fuel of the electrolysis cell is sent to the BOP controller.
8. The microgrid controller of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: a restart command to resume production of the renewable fuel of the electrolysis cell is sent to the BOP controller based on the amount of excess renewable energy meeting a threshold.
9. The microgrid controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receiving a fault indicator from the BOP controller, and A portion of the excess renewable energy source is supplied to the electrolyzer to achieve a controlled shut down of the electrolyzer.
10. A method for controlling assets of a microgrid, the method comprising: Receiving, by a microgrid controller of a microgrid, load information corresponding to current load demands of a plurality of loads connected to the microgrid; Receiving, by the microgrid controller, energy resource information corresponding to a plurality of energy resource systems configured to supply power to the microgrid, wherein the plurality of energy resource systems comprises a set of Renewable Energy Based (REB) energy resource systems configured to generate renewable energy; determining, by the microgrid controller, that the set of REB energy resource systems is producing surplus renewable energy with respect to the current load demand of the plurality of loads based on the load information and the energy resource information; Calculating, by the microgrid controller, an amount of excess renewable energy produced by the set of REB energy resource systems; Transmitting, by the microgrid controller, a start-up command to a power plant auxiliary equipment (BOP) controller for starting up an electrolyzer producing renewable fuels based on the set of REB energy resource systems producing the excess renewable energy source; dispatching at least a portion of the excess renewable energy source to the electrolyzer by the microgrid controller to start the electrolyzer; Receiving, by the microgrid controller from the BOP controller, a ready state indicating that the electrolyzer has been successfully started; Transmitting, by the microgrid controller to the BOP controller based on receipt of the ready state, a communication signal indicative of the amount of excess renewable energy source to initiate production of renewable fuel in an amount proportional to the amount of excess renewable energy source, and The excess renewable energy source is scheduled to the electrolyzer by the microgrid controller to produce the renewable fuel.

Description

Optimized renewable fuel production using a microgrid controller Technical Field The present disclosure relates generally to a microgrid and, for example, to a microgrid controller configured to control or manage operation of the microgrid. Background A microgrid is a self-sufficient energy system that serves a particular geographic area, such as a university campus, hospital complex, business center, community, mine, and/or drill site. In a microgrid, there are one or more Distributed Energy Resources (DER) that produce electricity for the microgrid (e.g., solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells, photovoltaic (PV) cells, generators, energy storage devices (e.g., batteries, capacitors), and/or other sources of energy). Some micro-grids are configured as off-grid power distribution systems (e.g., stand-alone micro-grids or islanding) that are not connected to larger power distribution systems (e.g., macro-grids) operated by, for example, an electric utility company or power plant. Some micro-grids are capable of operating in grid-tie mode and independent mode. In grid-tie mode, the micro-grid may be connected to and run in synchronization with a larger power distribution system. In the stand alone mode, the microgrid may be disconnected from the larger power distribution system and operated as a stand alone microgrid. The microgrid controller may control whether the microgrid is operating in a grid-connected mode or in a stand-alone mode, e.g., based on a schedule or based on meeting one or more conditions. The micro-grid may include different types of DERs, including non-renewable fuel-based DERs (e.g., gensets and certain types of fuel cells), renewable energy-based DERs (e.g., wind, hydro, and solar energy), and Energy Storage Systems (ESS) (e.g., batteries and capacitors). It may be desirable to include a fuel generation system in the micro-grid that produces renewable fuels such as hydrogen. Additionally, when there is an excess renewable energy source available for renewable energy-based DER production, it may be desirable to use the renewable energy-based DER to power a fuel generation system for producing renewable fuel. Many microgrid systems lack an efficient way to manage all renewable energy-based DERs to distribute excess renewable energy for renewable fuel production. Chinese patent application CN102710013a discloses an energy optimization management system implemented by park energy scheduling and micro grid energy management. The micro-grid energy management is of a three-layer structure, and the three-layer structure comprises a micro-grid energy scheduling layer, a micro-grid centralized control layer and a micro-grid energy storage source and load local control layer. The constraint condition of the energy optimization management method is ensured by a micro-grid centralized control layer. The output of each microgrid or energy storage is determined by a microgrid and energy storage coordination control strategy in a microgrid central controller, and the objective function comprises three different levels of objective function subsets. The objective function values under various states are calculated through the weight-based multi-objective optimization algorithm, so that the randomness and intermittence defects of the distributed power supply can be overcome, the problem of complementarity among a plurality of micro power grids in the energy network of the park and a plurality of micro power supplies in the micro power grids can be solved, and the optimal utilization of clean energy and the maximization of the energy efficiency of the system can be realized. But chinese patent application does not disclose the use of excess renewable energy for renewable fuel generation. The microgrid controller of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art. Disclosure of Invention In some implementations, a microgrid controller of a microgrid comprises: a communication interface configured to: receiving load information corresponding to a plurality of loads connected to the micro-grid, receiving energy resource information corresponding to a plurality of energy resource systems configured to supply power to the micro-grid, communicating with a power plant auxiliary equipment (BOP) controller, and outputting a control signal to the BOP controller for regulating renewable fuel production of the electrolysis cell, wherein the plurality of energy resource systems includes a set of Renewable Energy Based (REB) energy resource systems configured to produce renewable energy; one or more memories; and a processor(s) for the one or more processors, the one or more processors are communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and configured to: determining that the set of REB energy resource systems is producing excess renewable energy relative to the load demand of the plurality of loads based on the load information and the energy resource info