Renewable energy-based electricity grid infrastructure and method of grid infrastructure automation and operation

Abstract

A renewable energy resource management system manages a delivery of a power requirement from a multi-resource offshore renewable energy installation to an intelligent power distribution network. The installation includes multiple renewable energy resource components and is capable of variably and independently generating power from each to microgrids comprising the intelligent power distribution network so that the entire power requirement is satisfied from renewable energy resources. An electricity grid infrastructure is also disclosed in which power production is balanced with power consumption so that power storage requirements are minimized.

1 . An electricity grid infrastructure, comprising:
 a distributed load management system at least configured to settle a transfer of a power requirement for a specific period of time from a multi-resource offshore renewable energy platform, the multi-resource offshore renewable energy platform having a plurality of renewable energy resource components configured at the platform's location and capable of producing power from a renewable energy resource, the plurality of renewable energy resource components including at least three of 1) a plurality of wind turbines, 2) a plurality of photovoltaic modules mounted on at least one tracker mounting system, 3) a plurality of wave turbines, and 4) a plurality of high-temperature solar thermal collectors mounted on at least one tracker mounting system coupled thereto; and   a transmission system comprising a sub-surface high voltage direct current transmission link over which the power requirement is delivered, the transmission system including a plurality of voltage source converters connecting a power output circuit of each wind turbine in the plurality of wind turbines, each photovoltaic module in the plurality of photovoltaic modules, each wave turbine in the plurality of wave turbines, and each high-temperature solar thermal collector in the plurality of high-temperature solar thermal collectors to a common direct current bus to provide the high voltage direct current transmission link with rectified alternating current power output and direct current power output regardless of whether a power output circuit produces alternating current or direct current.   
     
     
         2 . The electricity grid infrastructure of  claim 1 , wherein the power requirement is configured for delivery by the transmission system to an intelligent power distribution network. 
     
     
         3 . The electricity grid infrastructure of  claim 2 , wherein the intelligent power distribution network is comprised of a plurality microgrids. 
     
     
         4 . The electricity grid infrastructure of  claim 2 , further comprising a privately hosted, shared distributed computing infrastructure that enables secure communication, processing, and storage of data within an electricity grid infrastructure that includes the multi-resource offshore renewable energy platform, the intelligent power distribution network, the distributed load management system, and the transmission system. 
     
     
         5 . The electricity grid infrastructure of  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of microgrids are configured to determine a power need of each power customer coupled to a microgrid and the intelligent power distribution network is configured to aggregate the power need in a power demand for each microgrid and communicate the power demand to the distributed load management system. 
     
     
         6 . The electricity grid infrastructure of  claim 5 , wherein the transfer of a power requirement for a specific period of time from a multi-resource offshore renewable energy platform to the intelligent power distribution network delivers a real-time response to the power demand. 
     
     
         7 . A method comprising:
 determining a power requirement of an intelligent power distribution network comprised of one or more power customers who continually communicate at least a power need composed of at least a usage type and a usage amount for a specific period of time;   determining a renewable energy power production capacity of a plurality of renewable energy resource components configured at a multi-resource offshore renewable energy platform, each renewable energy resource component representing a renewable energy power source and each renewable energy resource component having an independently and variably adjustable level of operation in response to, for the specific period of time, the power requirement and one or more of a commodity price forecast for each renewable energy resource, a meteorological conditions forecast for each renewable energy resource, and an operational availability of each component, the plurality of renewable energy resource components including at least three of 1) a plurality of wind turbines, 2) a plurality of photovoltaic modules mounted on at least one tracker mounting system, 3) a plurality of wave turbines, and 4) a plurality of high-temperature solar thermal collectors mounted on at least one tracker mounting system coupled thereto;   producing a power output from the plurality of renewable energy resource components; and   initiating a transfer of the power output from the plurality of renewable energy resource components to the intelligent power distribution network over a high-voltage direct current transmission link.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising aggregating the power need into a power demand for the intelligent power distribution network. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the intelligent power distribution network is comprised of one or more microgrids, each microgrid configured to aggregate the power need of the one or more power customers within microgrid. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising communicating the power demand to the multi-resource offshore renewable energy platform within a distributed load management system to manage the transfer of the power output. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising delivering a real-time response to the power demand to the intelligent power distribution network over the specific period of time. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising settling the transfer of the power output within a privately hosted, shared distributed computing infrastructure configured for securely communicating, processing and storing data within the distributed load management system. 
     
     
         13 . A power production apparatus of a renewable energy-based electricity grid, comprising
 a multi-resource offshore renewable energy platform having a plurality of renewable energy resource components integrated at the platform's location; and   a plurality of renewable resource energy-based power sources capable of independently and variably producing a combined power output from the plurality of renewable energy resource components to be consumed by one or more power customers of an intelligent power distribution network for a specified period of time that is produced entirely from the renewable resource energy-based power sources, the one or more renewable energy resource components including at least three of an array of wind turbines, an array of photovoltaic modules, an array of wave turbines, and an array of high temperature solar thermal collectors.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein an operational efficiency of each component coupled to a renewable resource energy-based power source is determined by a power generation module in response to a plurality of variables that at least include, for the specific period of time, a renewable energy resource commodity price model for each renewable resource energy-based power source, a meteorological conditions model at a location of the offshore renewable energy resource platform for each renewable resource energy-based power source. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , further comprising a high-voltage direct current transmission system having a plurality of voltage source converters coupling power output circuits of each component comprising the renewable resource energy-based power sources to a common direct current bus, the transmission system providing a link between the offshore renewable energy platform and the intelligent power distribution network over which the combined power output is transferred. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the intelligent power distribution network is coupled to the least one power customer on a second end, and an least one receiving location on a first end, the receiving location configured to direct an amount of power to be consumed to the at least one customer in response to an instruction from a load control module that determines the aggregate amount of power to be consumed for the specified period of time from data collected from continual assessment of power usage by the at least one power consumer. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , further comprising a privately hosted, shared distributed computing infrastructure within which the load control module securely communicates with the at least one power customer to determine the aggregate amount of power to be consumed for the intelligent power distribution network, and the power generation module securely communicates with each of the one or more components coupled to the multi-resource offshore renewable energy platform to independently and variably generate the combined power output. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the array of wave turbines include an array of surface turbines, an array of oscillating columns, and an array of sub-surface turbines. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the array of photovoltaic modules are positioned on at least one tracker mounting system configured to be variably adjusted so that the photovoltaic modules are positioned to generate power from solar energy in response to an instruction from the power generation module, and wherein the array of high temperature solar thermal collectors are positioned on at least on tracker mounting system configured to be variably adjusted so that the high temperature solar thermal collectors are positioned to generate power from heating ocean water from solar energy in response to an instruction from the power generation module. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the multi-resource offshore renewable energy platform is a mobile floating installation.