How Energy Advocate Works
Every Second. Every Price Signal. Every Constraint Observed.
Energy Advocate is not a scheduler or a setpoint calculator. It is a continuously running economic engine embedded in your control system, making and executing real decisions about your facility's energy position faster than any human operator can read the data that triggered them.
01
Marginal Cost Calculation
OptiMaxx continuously calculates your facility's real marginal cost to generate electricity internally - accounting for current fuel prices, boiler efficiencies at current load, turbine heat rates, condensing costs, and venting losses. This is not a static number. It updates every second as your process conditions change.
02
Live Market Price Comparison
OptiMaxx retrieves current electricity market prices over the Internet in real time and compares them against your calculated internal generation cost. When the market is cheaper than making your own power, OptiMaxx buys. When making is cheaper, it maximizes your own generation. When the spread is marginal, it optimizes the blend.
03
Autonomous Facility Reconfiguration
Based on its economic calculation, OptiMaxx automatically drives condensing steam turbine generators to their optimum operating point - observing all applicable constraints simultaneously: emission limits, boiler limits, turbine and generator limits, and contractual obligations. Where economical, it vents steam to generate additional power with non-condensing generators, or includes gas turbines in the overall optimization.
04
Smart Load Shedding & Demand Control
OptiMaxx supports traditional interval demand tie-line control, instantaneous MW purchase control, and intelligent load-shedding - preventing new demand peaks or curtailing expensive power purchases by shedding only the minimum necessary loads from prioritized tables. This prevents demand charges without disrupting operations.
05
Plain-Language Constraint Messaging
When a constraint prevents OptiMaxx from capturing a more economical position, it tells operators exactly why - in plain language. "Can't increase generation because boiler ID fan is at maximum." Daily constraint frequency distributions create a prioritized roadmap for equipment improvements that increases savings further over time.
