E.ON takes on deregulated energy markets, minimizes financial risks with the OutSystems Agile Platform
The Challenge:
The nature of electricity makes it almost inevitable that quantities produced and consumed will deviate from the quantities for which contracts have been defined in advance. In deregulated energy markets these differences (imbalances) can lead to financial settlements.
To avoid and minimize the resulting costs, companies must be able to analyze and validate all available data about delivered energy and communicate their findings back to the system operator within a specific period of days. In particular, Dutch energy companies like E.ON Benelux have 10 days to report to TenneT (the system operator) any discrepancies or errors found. During that 10 day period, corrections to the data can be made by any of the involved parties (including the TenneT and Grid Operators) and financial settlements can be avoided or at least minimized.
However, the high volume of exchanged data makes it practically impossible to fully validate it using manual processes. Therefore, E.ON was looking for a solution that would automate the data collection and assembly, and simplify the whole imbalance validation process. The objective was to achieve a high level of visibility over imbalance, to quickly understand its causes and take any corrective measures within the time-frame defined by TenneT.
The Solution:
E.ON Benelux selected the OutSystems Energy Imbalance Settlement & Reporting (EISR) solution. The EISR solution replaces time-consuming manual and spreadsheet-based imbalance validation processes with a sophisticated, yet simple to use Web-based system, allowing E.ON to quickly identify imbalance causes and take the necessary corrective measures. The solution was created with OutSystems Agile Platform and offers:
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Automatic data collection and assembly - All information received from TenneT, Grid Operators, external Metering companies and internal systems is automatically collected and assembled. The resulting information is then used to support the imbalance validation process;
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Complete reporting of imbalance information - The EISR solution offers intuitive charts and tables with detailed imbalance information. This information assists Program Coordinators in identifying issues between the information reported by external parties and the information available from internal systems. All discrepancies are highlighted providing a quick identification of potential problems that must be further investigated;
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Extensive Drill down functionalities - Program Coordinators have the ability to drill down on the available information, to investigate the causes for imbalance. With the EISR solution users can quickly drill-down from the general information of a given day to the precise grid connection and 15 minute interval where differences have been found;
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Email alerts - Program Coordinators receive email notifications indicating the days for which information has not been validated yet and that are close to the due date, ensuring that no information is overlooked.
Results:
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Validate imbalance as soon as new information is received - new data is automatically aggregated by the EISR solution and all reports are immediately updated to provide the latest snapshot on imbalance. Such level of automation enables the validation of all available information with the same human resources and in a fraction of the time;
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Minimize financial risks - the capability to know exactly what was produced, traded and measured allows E.ON to quickly identify any discrepancies and report incorrect or missing measurements back to the responsible parties within the pre-defined time frames. This allows E.ON to minimize the costs of financial settlements due to imbalance;
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Anticipate future imbalance - by pin-pointing the root causes for imbalance E.ON is able to take the necessary corrective measures to reduce the risks of future imbalance. This can include internal and external actions like reviewing the forecasting process or informing Grid Operators that there might be a mismatch in the Metering Point Registry, for example due to the incorrect processing of switching requests.
About E.ON Benelux:
E.ON Benelux concentrates on the production and supply of electricity and gas to private customers and business customers in the Netherlands and Belgium. E.ON Benelux is primarily an electricity-generating company; the company can trade internationally and has its own professional sales organization. E.ON Benelux was established in 1941 and since 2000 has been part of E.ON Energie AG. The company has 600 employees and is based in Rotterdam, with power stations in the South Holland province.
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