Apparatuses including power electronics circuitry, and related methods of operation

1. An apparatus comprising:

a housing;

electric utility meter circuitry in the housing and configured to measure usage of electricity supplied by an electric utility to a premise of a customer of the electric utility; and

power electronics circuitry in the housing, the power electronics circuitry comprising a dynamic Watt-VAR compensator comprising a grid interface switched mode power converter that is coupled to an Alternating Current (AC) bus and to a Direct Current (DC) bus and that is configured to regulate a voltage of the DC bus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the grid interface switched mode power converter comprises bidirectional power converter circuitry that is coupled to the AC bus and to the DC bus and that is configured to operate in both a power inverter mode and a power rectifier mode.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the apparatus comprises a Premise Energy Router (PER) comprising the electric utility meter circuitry and the power electronics circuitry at or adjacent the premise of the customer,

wherein the PER is downstream from a substation that serves the premise of the customer,

wherein the voltage of the DC bus that the grid interface switched mode power converter is configured to regulate comprises 24 Volts to 2,000 Volts, and

wherein a switching frequency of the grid interface switched mode power converter comprises 10 kilohertz or higher.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 ,

wherein the premise comprises a residential premise of the customer,

wherein a voltage of the AC bus that is coupled to the grid interface switched mode power converter comprises 120 Volts, 208 Volts, or 240 Volts, and

wherein the 120 Volts, 208 Volts, or 240 Volts comprises a single-phase, split-phase, or three-phase voltage.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the DC bus is in the apparatus and comprises a shared DC bus that is coupled to a plurality of DC power generation and/or DC energy storage elements at the premise of the customer.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the grid interface switched mode power converter is configured to convert DC power received from the plurality of DC power generation and/or DC energy storage elements via the shared DC bus into AC power.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 ,

wherein the grid interface switched mode power converter is further configured to inject current to a Point of Common Coupling (PCC) that is between an AC grid to which the apparatus is coupled and a load of the premise of the customer,

wherein the current comprises a direct fundamental and harmonic current and a quadrature fundamental and harmonic current, and

wherein the PCC comprises an AC PCC.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the grid interface switched mode power converter comprises single-phase, split-phase, or three-phase power bidirectional inverter-rectifier circuitry that is coupled to the shared DC bus.

9. The apparatus of claim 5 ,

wherein the plurality of DC power generation and/or DC energy storage elements are coupled to the shared DC bus via a plurality of switched mode power converters, respectively, and

wherein the shared DC bus is connected between the grid interface switched mode power converter and each of the plurality of switched mode power converters.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of DC power generation and/or DC energy storage elements comprises:

a DC power generation element comprising a solar photovoltaic (PV) system or a fuel cell; and

a DC energy storage element comprising a battery or a capacitor.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 ,

wherein the plurality of switched mode power converters comprises first and second DC-to-DC power converters that are coupled to the shared DC bus,

wherein the solar PV system or the fuel cell is coupled to the first DC-to-DC power converter, and

wherein the battery or the capacitor is coupled to the second DC-to-DC power converter.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is free of any mechanical circuit breaker and free of any step-up or step-down AC transformer.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a DC link capacitor, or a bank of capacitors, coupled to a battery energy storage system.

14. A method of operating an apparatus connected between a utility secondary service of an electric utility and a wiring connection of a customer at a premise of the customer, the method comprising:

measuring, using electric utility meter circuitry of the apparatus, usage of electricity supplied by the electric utility to the premise of the customer; and

regulating, using a grid interface switched mode power converter of power electronics circuitry of a dynamic Watt-VAR compensator of the apparatus, a voltage of a Direct Current (DC) bus in the apparatus,

wherein the DC bus comprises a shared DC bus that is coupled to a plurality of DC power generation and/or DC energy storage elements at the premise of the customer.

15. The method of claim 14 ,

wherein the regulating comprises operating a power inverter mode of the grid interface switched mode power converter, while the grid interface switched mode power converter is coupled to the shared DC bus and is shared by the plurality of DC power generation and/or DC energy storage elements.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the regulating further comprises operating a power rectifier mode of the grid interface switched mode power converter, while the grid interface switched mode power converter is coupled to the shared DC bus and is shared by the plurality of DC power generation and/or DC energy storage elements.

17. The method of claim 16 ,

wherein the grid interface switched mode power converter is coupled to an Alternating Current (AC) bus, and

wherein the method further comprises:

detecting preexisting harmonics at an AC Point of Common Coupling (PCC); and

determining harmonic current to inject to the AC PCC to compensate for the preexisting harmonics.

18. The method of claim 17 ,

wherein the measuring and the regulating are performed while the apparatus is downstream from a substation that serves the premise of the customer and without using any step-up or step-down AC transformer in the apparatus,

wherein the voltage of the shared DC bus comprises 24 Volts to 2,000 Volts while performing the regulating, and

wherein a switching frequency of the grid interface switched mode power converter comprises 10 kilohertz or higher, while performing the regulating.

19. The method of claim 18 ,

wherein the premise comprises a residential premise of the customer, and

wherein the measuring and the regulating are performed while the apparatus is at or adjacent the residential premise of the customer.

20. The method of claim 18 ,

wherein the regulating comprises operating the grid interface switched mode power converter as a voltage source, while a plurality of switched mode power converters coupled to the shared DC bus operates in a current source mode or in a voltage source mode,

wherein the shared DC bus is coupled to the plurality of DC power generation and/or DC energy storage elements via the plurality of switched mode power converters, respectively, and

wherein the shared DC bus is connected between the grid interface switched mode power converter and each of the plurality of switched mode power converters.

21. An apparatus comprising:

power electronics circuitry in the apparatus, the power electronics circuitry comprising:

a dynamic Watt-VAR compensator comprising bidirectional inverter-rectifier circuitry that is configured to inject current to an Alternating Current (AC) Point of Common Coupling (PCC); and

a Direct Current (DC) bus coupled to both a DC power generation system and a DC energy storage device at a premise of a customer of an electric utility,

wherein a switching frequency of the power electronics circuitry comprises 10 kilohertz or higher.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , further comprising electric utility meter circuitry in the apparatus and configured to measure usage of electricity supplied by the electric utility to the premise of the customer,

wherein the apparatus weighs forty pounds or lighter.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the housing is no larger than twenty inches wide, twelve inches deep, and twenty-four inches long.