Energy Market Software Development

ROAM is constantly developing new software and hardware support systems for clients custom requirements and for meeting the increasing demand for our expert consulting services.

Recent Developments

  • Construction of a security constrained optimal DC load flow model embedded in the 2-4-C Market Dispatch system
  • Integration of data sources, simulation hardware and modelling software into a MySQL Server framework

In The Pipeline - Bureau Service

ROAM is currently developing a web-based Bureau Service that will enable our clients to:

  • Remotely run their own tailored market simulations using ROAM's powerful simulation hardware
  • Apply ROAM's recommended inputs such as demand traces and bidding profiles to simulation models
  • Download results using a secure SSL server connection

Our Systems

2-4-C

The ROAM-developed 2-4-C market modelling software package is the core of ROAM Consulting's electricity market forecasting capabilities and all other ROAM software applications which require forecast market data. Outputs of the market modelling include :

  • Annual Generation Trends
  • Pool Price (Market Clearing Price) Trends
  • Time-sequential Trends
  • Volume Weighted Annual Revenue Trends
  • Inter-regional Transmission Flows and Limits

2-4-C is readily configurable to accommodate an infinite variety of regional arrangements, with nodal pricing determined at each node or region in each time interval. It bases dispatch decisions on generator bidding patterns and availabilities, including forced, partial and planned outages, of each generator, including renewable energy generators and inter-regional transmission capabilities and constraints. Numerous iterations of this process can be automatically batched and processed to take account of random events, such as permutations of possible generator outage distributions.

 

Initially developed to simulate the NEMMCO Market Dispatch Engine for the Australian National Electricity Market (NEMDE), 2-4-C has continually developed and has now been used to study a variety of markets and precursors to markets, including the:

  • Australian NEM (40,000MW)
  • New Zealand Market (8,000MW)
  • South West Interconnected System (Western Australia) (5000MW)
  • North West Interconnected System (Western Australia) (500MW)
  • East Kimberley Hydro system (Western Australia) (100MW)
  • North West Queensland system (400MW)

CLP

Incorporated within the 2-4-C simulation software is the COIN-OR Linear Program (CLP) solver, a proven and efficient open-source LP engine.

PowerWorld

PowerWorld® Simulator (Simulator) is a power system simulation package designed from the ground up by PowerWorld Corporation to be user friendly and highly interactive. Simulator has the power for full engineering analysis, but it is also interactive and graphical so that it can be used to explain power system operations to non-technical audiences. Simulator is capable of solving power systems comprised of up to 100,000 buses.

 

ROAM has chosen PowerWorld as part of its suite of integrated simulation tools from a number of power flow simulation packages for various reasons. PowerWorld has a well-developed reputation for powerful and accurate power flow analysis and modelling. The graphical capabilities of PowerWorld add a further dimension in demonstrating the outputs and operation of a power flow analysis.

IRP

ROAM has developed an integrated resource planning (IRP) tool as part of the 2-4-C software suite. The software uses dynamic programming to forecast the optimum configuration for long term power system planning. In its application the IRP uses the 2-4-C dispatch engine to calculate and optimise power system dynamics including capital costs, fuel costs, reliability (USE) and greenhouse emissions.

Bid Interrogator

ROAM's Bid Interrogator is an interface between NEMMCO ('yestbid') data files and 2-4-C. Bid Interrogator is used primarily to analyse historic market bidding data to produce realistic bidding profiles for market forecasting. This can be used to analyse historic bidding behaviour of generators in order to determine whether stations are gaining market power through the bidding process. Bid Interrogator is a tool that allows for ongoing reporting of market behaviour in order to determine the extent to which the market is operating in the appropriate fashion. When used in conjunction with global-roam's NEM-Review it is a powerful tool for understanding market behaviour.

Nem-Watch and Nem-Review

global-roam's Nem-Watch provides real-time information about Australia's electricity industry including: NEMMCO dispatch prices, NEMMCO dispatch demand targets, generation targets, interconnector flow and constraint limitations, market notices and weather data.

 

Nem-Review, another global-roam product, allows comprehensive analysis of all historical data for the Australian NEM since it began in 1998. The raw data is accessible and allows a wide variety of analysis tailored to your information requirements. Tools assisting data analysis are also available and include time-sequential trend analysis, statistical analysis and customised reports.

FlowMaker

FlowMaker is ROAM's proprietary interface between the 2-4-C market dispatch simulation model and the PowerWorld model. PowerWorld is used in conjunction with transmission system snapshots provided by NEMMCO primarily to calculate annual marginal loss factors (MLF). However, its use extends to all aspects of powerflow analysis.

Load Forecaster

Accurate, time sequential load trace forecasts are required for detailed energy market forecasting. Our custom developed Load Forecaster produces load traces which conform to energy and demand forecast parameters published by market participants. This is typically achieved through manipulation of a historic demand trace for the same geographic location which inherently contains the daily, weekly and seasonal demand characteristics for the area.