IT solutions and examples in deregulated marketplaces

The power industry in many parts of the world is undergoing dramatic changes: deregulation, privatization, competition and 3rd party access are the keywords. Its the transmission company's (TransCo) and independent system operator's (ISO) responsibility to enable competition among the generation companies (GenCos) by providing nondiscriminatory access to the transmission facilities, ancillary services as well as a secure and reliable system operation. The distribution company (DisCo) has to guarantee free access to the distribution network to promote the competition on the supply side. In order to accomplish their new challenges, the new types of utilities need new IT solutions and new software applications. As examples for these new solutions, this paper presents successfully implemented new control center applications for an ISO in the deregulated US industry as well as for GenCos and DisCos in Scandinavia. The focus is on the applications available transfer capability (ATC) and Open Access Same Time Information System (OASIS) supporting the ISO as well as energy trading and scheduling tools for GenCos. Integrated IT solutions are implemented to improve the competitive position of the companies by supporting complete business processes.