ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD

An energy management system may include a plurality of energy resource systems for exchanging electric energy therebetween. According to some embodiments, each energy resource system includes a renewable energy resource to generate electric power and a power converter to convert the electric power from one form to another form. Each energy resource system may further include a local controller having a unique identification for the energy management system to control the operation of the power converter. A cloud controller may communicate with the local controller to exchange information over a communications network. The cloud controller might, for example, establish a secure connection with the local controller after verification of the unique identification and maintain at least one database to securely store information relating to energy exchanged between the plurality of energy resource systems in the form of a virtual renewable energy currency.