Software quality tools for the deregulated market

Deregulation of the energy industry has resulted in the emergence of software that coordinates the functions in power systems. The complexity of these vertically split power systems demand stringent requirements from the employed software. As the market rules change, the regulating policies stated by FERC will need incorporation into the software. By using the latest technology and applying software management practices during development, the measurable results include better designs of the software coupled with high quality and performance. A variety of commercially available tools can be used to improve the software development process. Software modeling and configuration management encompasses two key areas in the development life cycle. This article presents an overview of software modeling and configuration management as applied to software development in deregulated energy markets. It outlines the requirements for software quality, various tool features, and challenges ahead in the development of software for deregulated energy markets.