Granted Patent B2

US 12,639,747 · App. 17/890,925 · Granted May 26, 2026

Inventors: Neetika Sathe (Georgetown, CA); Abhinav Tiwari (Burlington, CA); Anastasia Boutziouvis (Ottawa, CA); Adam Epstein (Guelph, CA); Nitin Bajaj (Brampton, CA); Geri Yin (Woodbridge, CA); Hamza Mortage (Toronto, CA); Ranveer Reehal (Caledon, CA); Curtis Miles (Milton, CA)

Assignee: SMART ENERGY SYSTEMS, INC.

G06Q30/08

Abstract

Claims (99)

1 . A computing device to provide a platform for transacting energy services, the computing device comprising one or more processors coupled to a storage device storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to:

receive a quote for providing a market service, the quote received from a quote initiator to establish at least one contract for providing the market service, wherein the market service is a selected one of a plurality of market services for energy generation, distribution or consumption;

communicate the quote to a plurality of quote bidders, each quote bidder associated with a respective distributed energy resource (DER) device of respective DER devices capable of performing the market service;

receive respective tenders in reply to the quote, the respective tenders received from at least some of the plurality of quote bidders;

store the quote and the respective tenders to a data store;

perform automated market clearing operations to automatically and transparently clear the respective tenders based on a gate closure for the quote and a ranking based on criteria comprising a device type of the respective DER device associated with each quote bidder of the plurality of quote bidders, wherein the automated market clearing operations execute on the computing device to generate optimized device control parameters based on the criteria and the gate closure;

store market clearing result information to the data store;

for a respective tender accepted for the quote by the automated market clearing operations:

establish a respective contract of respective contracts between the quote initiator and a respective quote bidder associated with the respective tender in response to the quote and the respective tender;

automatically adjust operation of the respective DER device associated with the respective quote bidder to perform the market service in accordance with the respective contract, wherein the respective DER device associated with the respective quote bidder is automatically adjusted via control signals using a control agent to physically adjust, in real-time, a first energy generation or consumption of the respective DER device associated with the respective quote bidder;

verify participation of the respective DER device associated with the respective quote bidder in performance of the market service; and

store the participation as verified to the data store;

receive performance measures of the respective DER devices, the performance measures made during performance of the respective contracts;

store the performance measures for either or both of presenting to platform participants or verifying the participation;

receive participation verification information from one or more metering agents monitoring the participation of the respective DER devices to verify respective participation in the respective contracts;

communicate blockchain information associated with a blockchain to participants in the platform for transparency of platform operations, the blockchain information including any one or more of: participant information, quote information, tender information, market clearing information, participation information for the respective contracts, payment information, token information, or rewards information;

receive respective merchant product or service information and merchant offer information and publish respective merchant offers for spending rewards issued in response to verified participation;

communicate notifications of the quote to the plurality of quote bidders, the plurality of quote bidders determined in response to the market service and the device type of the respective DER device associated with the quote bidder;

for the respective quote bidder, any one or more of: provide an upcoming quotes interface for quotes available for a bid by the respective quote bidder; provide an in progress interface for the respective tender of the respective quote bidder accepted by the platform and where performance under an associated contract is not complete; or provide a history interface to present past event information comprising any one or more of tokens and/or reward spending information, information for each quote communicated for the respective quote bidder, including for quotes where no reply was communicated, quotes where a tender reply was not accepted, and quotes where the tender reply was accepted; and

for the quote initiator, any one or more of:

provide an incoming services dashboard interface for presenting quote information for quotes received for bidding;

provide an outgoing services dashboard interface presenting quote information for quotes initiated for bidding on by another platform participant; or

provide a payments dashboard interface for presenting payment information for quotes.

2 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the quote initiator is a contract counterparty and the plurality of quote bidders are any one or more of:

residential customers of the contract counterparty having the respective DER devices;

institutional, commercial & industrial (IC&I) customers of the contract counterparty having the respective DER devices; or

DER device aggregators having a relationship with owners of the respective DER devices for providing the plurality of market services.

3 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the quote initiator is a market operator and the plurality of quote bidders are one or more contract counterparties to the market operator, the one or more contract counterparties having relationships with any one or more of customers having the respective DER devices or DER device aggregators having a relationship with owners of the respective DER devices for providing the plurality of market services.

4 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the quote initiator is a DER device aggregator having a relationship with owners of the respective DER devices and the plurality of quote bidders are the owners of the respective DER devices.

5 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein:

the quote defines a second quote that is linked to a first quote;

the quote initiator of the second quote is a quote bidder providing a first respective tender for the first quote; and

the automated market clearing operations for the second quote only accept second tenders for the second quote if market clearing operations for the first quote accepted the first respective tender for the first quote by the quote initiator of the second quote.

6 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of market services comprise one of electric vehicle charging, green house gas reduction, or demand response market services.

7 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein, responsive to the participation as verified, the computer readable instructions cause the computing device to:

instruct payment settlement in accordance with the respective contract; and

store payment results to the data store.

8 . The computing device of claim 7 , wherein the participation is verified by an independent third party service and recorded in the blockchain.

9 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein, responsive to the participation as verified, the computer readable instructions cause the computing device to:

record an amount of tokens to an account of the respective quote bidder stored on the data store, wherein the amount of the tokens is responsive to either or both of:

an amount of payment in accordance with the respective contract; or

a verified performance measure related to the market service.

10 . The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the respective quote bidder is a residential customer and the amount of the tokens are rewards that are spendable for the respective merchant product or service at merchants participating in a rewards program maintained using the blockchain.

11 . The computing device of claim 9 , wherein, the computer readable instructions cause the computing device to record the amount of the tokens to an account of the respective quote bidder stored on the blockchain.

12 . The computing device of claim 11 , wherein:

the tokens reflect a verified performance measure of any one or more of:

a green house gas reduction; or

clean energy generated by a renewable or non-fossil fuel source; and

the amount of the tokens is determined in accordance with a regulatory or other program.

13 . The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the tokens are transferable via a credits market.

14 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the quote comprises a credibility weighting factor for selecting between the respective tenders in response to a credibility score associated to the respective quote bidder, wherein the automated market clearing operations are responsive to the credibility weighting factor and credibility scores of the plurality of quote bidders to maximize a likelihood of successful performance under the respective contracts for the quote.

15 . The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the computer readable instructions cause the computing device to determine the credibility score for the respective quote bidder, wherein the credibility score is responsive to participation by the respective quote bidder in a set of recent quotes available for bidding by the respective quote bidder.

16 . The computing device of claim 15 , wherein, for each of the quotes in the set of recent quotes:

no bidding has a neutral impact to the credibility score;

bidding or successful participation in a concluded contract has a positive impact to the credibility score; and

cancellation or unsuccessful participation in the concluded contract has a negative impact to the credibility score.

17 . The computing device of claim 16 , wherein the positive impact or the negative impact is weighted in response to the credibility weighting factor of a particular quote in the set of quotes.

18 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the quote comprises a gate defining a time within which to receive the respective tenders in reply to the quote and wherein the automated market clearing operations are responsive to the gate.

19 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the respective tender comprises a participation rate for the respective DER device and wherein the automated market clearing operations are responsive to the participation rate for the respective DER device.

20 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the automated market clearing operations are responsive to any one or more of:

a bid price;

a quantity to be supplied or consumed;

a location of the respective DER device;

the device type of the respective DER device;

a credibility weighting factor and a user credibility score;

a participation rate of the respective tender;

a time the respective tender is received; or

whether the respective DER device is previously scheduled for participation in another contract during a same time as performance of the respective contract under the quote.

21 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the computer readable instructions cause the computing device to:

receive quote bidder information to enroll the respective quote bidder to the platform, the quote bidder information including DER device information with which to confirm the respective DER device; and

communicate with the control agent for the respective DER device to verify eligibility to enroll.

22 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein:

the computer readable instructions cause the computing device to provide an interface for the quote initiator to provide quote information defining the quote; and

the interface for the quote initiator is configured to present respective controls to receive the quote information in response to a selection of the market service.

23 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the computer readable instructions cause the computing device to provide an interface for a quote bidder to provide default tender information for automatically replying to quotes from the quote initiator using the default tender information.

24 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises one peer device of a peer-to-peer network implementing the blockchain.

25 . A method to provide a platform for transacting energy services:

receiving a quote for providing a market service, the quote received from a quote initiator to establish at least one contract for providing the market service, wherein the market service is a selected one of a plurality of market services for energy generation, distribution or consumption;

communicating the quote to a plurality of quote bidders, each quote bidder associated with a respective distributed energy resource (DER) device of respective DER devices capable of performing the market service;

receiving respective tenders in reply to the quote, the respective tenders received from at least some of the plurality of quote bidders;

storing the quote and the respective tenders to a data store;

performing automated market clearing operations to automatically and transparently clear the respective tenders based on a gate closure for the quote and a ranking based on criteria comprising a device type of the respective DER device associated with each quote bidder of the plurality of quote bidders, wherein the automated market clearing operations are executed on a computing device to generate optimized device control parameters based on the criteria and the gate closure;

storing market clearing result information to the data store;

for a respective tender accepted for the quote by the automated market clearing operations:

establishing a respective contract of respective contracts between the quote initiator and a respective quote bidder associated with the respective tender in response to the quote and the respective tender;

automatically adjust operation of the respective DER device associated with the respective quote bidder to perform the market service in accordance with the respective contract, wherein the respective DER device associated with the respective quote bidder is automatically adjusted via control signals using a control agent to physically adjust, in real-time, a first energy generation or consumption of the respective DER device associated with the respective quote bidder;

verifying participation of the respective DER device associated with the respective quote bidder in performance of the market service; and

storing the participation as verified to the data store;

receiving performance measures of the respective DER devices, the performance measures made during performance of the respective contracts;

storing the performance measures for either or both of presenting to platform participants or verifying the participation;

receiving participation verification information from one or more metering agents monitoring the participation of the respective DER devices to verify respective participation in the respective contracts;

communicating blockchain information associated with a blockchain to participants in the platform for transparency of platform operations, the blockchain information including any one or more of: participant information, quote information, tender information, market clearing information, participation information for the respective contracts, payment information, token information, or rewards information;

receiving respective merchant product or service information and merchant offer information and publish respective merchant offers for spending rewards issued in response to verified participation;

communicating notifications of the quote to the plurality of quote bidders, the plurality of quote bidders determined in response to the market service and the device type of the respective DER device associated with the quote bidder;

for the respective quote bidder, any one or more of: providing an upcoming quotes interface for quotes available for a bid by the respective quote bidder; providing an in progress interface for the respective tender of the respective quote bidder accepted by the platform and where performance under an associated contract is not complete; or providing a history interface to present past event information comprising any one or more of tokens and/or reward spending information, information for each quote communicated for the respective quote bidder, including for quotes where no reply was communicated, quotes where a tender reply was not accepted, and quotes where the tender reply was accepted; and

for the quote initiator, any one or more of:

providing an incoming services dashboard interface for presenting quote information for quotes received for bidding;

providing an outgoing services dashboard interface presenting quote information for quotes initiated for bidding on by another platform participant; or

providing a payments dashboard interface for presenting payment information for quotes.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (51)