News - Power Settlements

PacifiCorp Implements the Power Settlements Solution for CAISO EIM Shadow Settlements and Real-Time Situational Awareness Analytics

mwcms on May 1, 2017

PacifiCorp, a utility with approximately 10,000 MW of generation and a participant in the CAISO Energy Imbalance Market (CAISO EIM), has implemented the Power Settlements SettleCore™ solution. PacifiCorp has deployed the integrated SettleCore solution for both front-office and back-operation operations, including both their EIM Participating Resource Scheduling Coordinator (PRSC) and their EIM Entity Scheduling Coordinators (EESC). PacifiCorp has licensed the SettleCore – Visual Analytics, ISO Downloader, Shadow Settlements, Settlements Analyzer, Allocations, and Meter modules.

PacifiCorp’s real-time schedulers use the SettleCore – Visual Analytics module for monitoring their performance in the CAISO EIM market, including real-time position management and pricing, and an estimate of their CAISO EIM profits and losses that is updated every 5-minutes in the real-time market. PacifiCorp also uses the SettleCore solution for the calculation and management reporting of their CAISO EIM Benefits. PacifiCorp’s back-office group utilizes the SettleCore – Shadow Settlements, Settlement Analyzer, and ISO Downloader modules for CAISO EIM shadow settlements, settlement validations, and reporting. In the Fall of 2017, PacifiCorp will implement the SettleCore Allocations module to perform the Transmission Billing calculation function and the Meter Module for meter data submissions to the CAISO.

Doug Young, PacifiCorp’s Director of Back Office Operations, commented, “Power Settlements has been a fantastic business partner. They implemented the SettleCore product ahead of schedule and did an excellent job of delivering a well-tested product that met or exceeded our specific requirements. Where we needed enhancements to the product the Power Settlements team was readily available to hear our requests, they quickly comprehended what our needs were and rolled out the enhancements in a timeframe that exceeded our expectations. The Power Settlements team has been an exceptional business partner and I consider them best in class for exceeding our customer service expectations in the areas of fast response times to requests, technical expertise, reliability, flexibility and follow through. I highly recommend working with the Power Settlements team if you are a participant in the CAISO market.”

“PacifiCorp is an incredible customer and has realized material benefits from the Power Settlements solution, including real-time capabilities for their front-office to monitor their resource and portfolio-level CAISO EIM data in a single dashboard that has resulted in the ability to make more informed procurement and scheduling decisions, as well as to further minimize costs to their customers. The Power Settlements solution has provided significant benefits to PacifiCorp’s back-office functions, including predictive shadow settlement estimates and statement validations, dispute identification, reporting, and fast processing times. Just as important as the functionality within the system, PacifiCorp has benefited from Power Settlements’ unique customer support model that has allowed for fast issue resolution, customizations, and attentiveness to users from our technical support staff. We are very pleased to count PacifiCorp as one of our customers and look forward to providing superior support to them for many years to come,” said David Dan, CEO of Power Settlements.

For more information about the SettleCore – Visual Analytics Module, please visit http://powersettlements.com/settlecore-visual-analytics/. For more information about additional SettleCore modules, please visit http://powersettlements.com/settlecore-iso-rto/

About PacifiCorp

PacifiCorp is one of the West’s leading utilities, serving approximately 1.8 million customers in six states. PacifiCorp has 10,894 megawatts of generation capacity from coal, hydro, renewable wind power, gas-fired combustion turbines, solar and geothermal. The company was formed in 1984, when our electric utility, natural resource development and telecommunications businesses grew into full-fledged enterprises. In 1989, we merged with Utah Power & Light and continued doing business as Pacific Power and Utah Power. PacifiCorp is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Today, PacifiCorp consists of two business units: Pacific Power, which delivers electricity to customers in Oregon, Washington and California, is headquartered in Portland, Oregon; and Rocky Mountain Power, which delivers electricity to customers in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

About the SettleCore System by Power Settlements

Power Settlements is a software company that specializes in providing software solutions to energy companies that participate in the ISO and RTO physical power markets. Our flagship product SettleCore™ is a leading platform for participants in the ISO and RTO Markets. The SettleCore ISO/RTO modules enable full bid-to-bill functionality from bid submission through data downloading, reporting, and shadow settlements and settlement statement validation in the ISO markets. The SettleCore Visual Analytics Module is the leading visual dashboard for analysis of ISO dispatch and automatic flagging of events to avoid costs and highlight trading opportunities. Visual Analytics displays data in both an historical screen as well as an on-demand real-time screen. The SettleCore ETRM system includes a very robust, modular and fully integrated Energy Trading and Risk Management system, which includes power and natural gas deal entry for transactions in ISOs as well as bilateral transactions outside ISOs, settlements and invoicing, mark-to-market, the enforcement of counterparty credit and trader limits and risk management analytics. All of the SettleCore modules are fully integrated in a single system built in Microsoft .Net, using the SQL Server database which provides for full auditability, traceability, and user security roles.

NV Energy Implements the Power Settlements Visual Analytics Module to Enhance CAISO EIM Situational Awareness

mwcms on April 1, 2017

Power Settlements is pleased to announce that NV Energy, a Nevada utility that participates in the CAISO Energy Imbalance Market (CAISO EIM), has implemented the Power Settlements Visual Analytics Module in a hosted environment. NV Energy is using the Power Settlements solution for historical and real-time analytics and reporting of their activity in the CAISO EIM market.

The Power Settlements Visual Analytics Module is a dashboard that displays the customer’s EIM data in a single screen for analysis of either the current day’s real-time data in the Real-Time screen or historical days in the Historical Analytics screen. This module graphically displays base schedules, market awards, dispatches, LMPs, unit parameters, and outage information, among other data sources. The customer’s internal meter data is imported to provide a real-time view of imbalance energy, and the module provides a snapshot of the customer’s estimated profits and losses in the EIM.

“NV Energy is our first CAISO EIM customer. We are extremely pleased that the Visual Analytics Module has provided material benefits to NV Energy to increase productivity and automatically flag dispatch and other data violations, through real-time analytics and reporting. NV Energy is an amazing customer and we look forward to working with them for many years to come,” said David Dan, CEO of Power Settlements.

For more information on the SettleCore – Visual Analytics Module, please visit http://powersettlements.com/settlecore-visual-analytics/

About NV Energy

NV Energy has served citizens in northern Nevada for over 150 years, and southern Nevada since 1906. The NV Energy service area covers 45,592 square miles of the fastest growing state in the U.S. NV Energy provides a wide range of energy services to 1.3 million customers throughout Nevada and nearly 40 million tourists annually. Nevada Power, Sierra Pacific Power and Sierra Pacific Resources merged in July 1999 to create one of the fastest growing energy companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2008, both subsidiaries began doing business as NV Energy signaling the commitment to serving Nevada’s energy needs. The company is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

About the SettleCore System by Power Settlements

Power Settlements is a software company that specializes in providing software solutions to energy companies that participate in the ISO and RTO physical power markets. Our flagship product SettleCore™, is a leading platform for participants in the ISO and RTO Markets. The SettleCore ISO/RTO modules enable full bid-to-bill functionality from bid submission through data downloading, reporting, and shadow settlements and settlement statement validation in the ISO markets. The SettleCore Visual Analytics Module is the leading visual dashboard for analysis of ISO dispatch and automatic flagging of events to avoid costs and highlight trading opportunities. Visual Analytics displays data in both an historical screen as well as an on-demand real-time screen. The SettleCore ETRM system includes a very robust, modular and fully integrated Energy Trading and Risk Management system, which includes power and natural gas deal entry for transactions in ISOs as well as bilateral transactions outside ISOs, settlements and invoicing, mark-to-market, the enforcement of counterparty credit and trader limits and risk management analytics. All of the SettleCore modules are fully integrated in a single system built in Microsoft .Net, using the SQL Server database that provides for full auditability, traceability, and user security roles.

1 GW Solar Company Implements the Power Settlements PPA Settlement System for Counterparty PPA Settlements and Invoicing

mwcms on July 1, 2016

Power Settlements is pleased to announce that a solar company with more than 1 GW of capacity has implemented the SettleCore – PPA Settlement System for automating their counterparty power purchase agreement (“PPA”) settlements and invoicing. This customer implemented the solution on a hosted platform where Power Settlements performs 100% of the support and maintenance of the system, including the addition of all future PPAs and changes to their existing PPAs.

The SettleCore – PPA Settlement System is an easy-to-use solution for power companies to automate their PPA, tolling, and contract power settlements and invoicing. The PPA Settlement System enables customers to move their manual PPA settlement and invoicing process from spreadsheets into a system that enforces traceability, versioning, auditability, and user-security roles while providing significant cost savings though automation of the process. The PPA Settlement system saves customers time and provides a significant cost savings by automating manual processes. The PPA Settlement System has been designed to process the most complex PPAs and contracts and displays all supporting details of the calculations for all components and all time intervals. Source data can be easily imported into the system and users can continue to make invoice adjustments and approve invoices before sending them out to counterparties. All supporting data can be easily extracted from the system and invoices can be exported in the current counterparty invoice formats so that changes are not required from the counterparty. The solution is scalable and includes the addition of all future PPAs in the Power Settlements support and maintenance model.

“We are very pleased to have a large renewable power company go-live with the Power Settlements PPA Settlement System. The PPA Settlement System is resource-type agnostic, so it can process all renewable and non-renewable PPAs and contracts, and can be used for the most complicated and sophisticated of PPAs and power contracts for all energy and capacity product types, including energy, capacity, RECs and resource adequacy. Energy companies want to move their PPA invoicing away from manually created spreadsheets that are time intensive but need the flexibility that spreadsheets provide. Now there is a solution – the SettleCore PPA Settlement System. Power Settlements has been providing software solutions to market participants of the organized ISO/RTO wholesale power markets since 2009 and now we are pleased to add a standalone solution for the bilateral power markets,” said David Dan, CEO of Power Settlements.

For more information on the SettleCore – PPA Settlement system, please visit our PPA Settlement System webpage at http://powersettlements.com/settlecore-ppa-invoicing/

About the Power Settlements SettleCore Solution

SettleCore is a leading platform for participants in the wholesale power markets. The SettleCore ISO/RTO modules enable full bid-to-bill functionality from bid submission through data downloading, reporting, and shadow settlements and settlement statement validation in the ISO markets. The SettleCore Visual Analytics Module is the leading visual dashboard for analysis of ISO dispatch and automatic flagging of events to avoid costs and highlight trading opportunities. Visual Analytics displays data in both an historical screen as well as an on-demand real-time screen. The SettleCore PPA Settlement system automates the settlement and invoicing of all bilateral power PPAs, tolling agreements, and contracts through an easy-to-use system with a framework that instills process controls, user-security, and timestamps while preserving the flexibility of data overrides and invoice adjustments. The SettleCore ETRM system includes a very robust, modular and fully integrated Energy Trading and Risk Management system, which includes power and natural gas deal entry for transactions in ISOs as well as bilateral transactions outside ISOs, settlements and invoicing, mark-to-market, the enforcement of counterparty credit and trader limits and risk management analytics. All of the SettleCore modules are fully integrated in a single system built in Microsoft .Net, using the SQL Server database that provides for full auditability, traceability, and user security roles.

Power Settlements Releases the PPA Settlement and Invoicing System

mwcms on May 1, 2016

Power Settlements is pleased to announce the release of the SettleCore – PPA Settlement System. This is a standalone solution for automating the bilateral settlement and invoicing of all power purchase agreements (“PPAs”), tolling agreements, and all contract settlements.

The PPA Settlement System is used for processing the most complex power contacts in a system that enforces user-security roles, traceability, auditability, and versioning. It’s fast and it saves users time (no more creating monthly spreadsheets) and provides our customers with significant savings by using a system that is scalable and can handle large numbers of contracts and counterparties. The PPA Settlement System is easy to use and features built-in pivot tables and the ability to view all supporting data and calculation results at the most granular level to support full transparency of all calculation results. The PPA Settlement System enables all contract reference data to be effective dated and includes monthly and annual rolling totals to enforce all components of a PPA or contract. Multiple invoice cycles are supported to allow for initial invoices and multiple true-ups. Users are able to perform data overrides and invoice adjustments. All invoices and supporting data can be exported into the existing invoice templates per counterparty, ensuring that there are no changes required by your counterparties when you implement the SettleCore – PPA Settlement System.

Some of the features and benefits of the SettleCore – PPA Settlement System include:

Saves users time. Saves your company money.
It’s easy to use. It’s fast.
Handles the most complex PPAs.
Supports all resource types, including: solar, community solar gardens, wind, distributed generation, demand response, thermal, hydro, nuclear, etc.
Integration interfaces and templates for easily importing data into the system.
Transparency into the calculations and supporting data.
Approve or reject invoices.
Create invoices and supporting data in any format per counterparty.
Your auditors prefer it. All data is versioned with user names and timestamps.
100% vendor supported and maintained. Reduces IT costs.
No changes required by your counterparties. Counterparty-specific invoice formats and supporting details.

David Dan, CEO of Power Settlements, commented on the release of the SettleCore – PPA Settlement System, “Most power companies use spreadsheets to settle their complex bilateral agreements that may be tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or billions of dollars annually. They do so because of the flexibility of spreadsheets that allow for complex calculations that are easy to adjust. However, large numbers of PPAs and contracts across multiple counterparties requires a lot of manual intervention and time by users. Now there is a simple solution that includes the flexibility of spreadsheets while enforcing process controls in a framework that is scalable and provides a significant cost savings to customers by automating otherwise manual processes, saves users time through automation, all while having no impact on data formats and counterparties. The solution is the SettleCore – PPA Settlement System, which is easy to implement, can be deployed onsite or hosted, and is 100% vendor managed by Power Settlements.”

For more information on the SettleCore – PPA Settlement system, please visit our PPA Settlement System webpage at http://powersettlements.com/settlecore-ppa-invoicing/

About the Power Settlements SettleCore Solution

City of Vernon Successfully Implements the Power Settlements Solution for the CAISO Market

mwcms on April 1, 2016

The City of Vernon, a municipal utility with a peak load of approximately 194 MW and more than 130 MW of generation, implemented the Power Settlements solution for the CAISO market. The City of Vernon implemented the Power Settlement Visual Analytics module for analyzing unit dispatch in Real-Time and the Settlement modules for performing CAISO charge code shadow settlements and statement validations.

Efrain Sandoval, Resource Scheduler at the City of Vernon, had this to say, “The Power Settlements system has really been a huge benefit to us. Our schedulers and traders have already seen a huge benefit from the Visual Analytics module. With a single Real-Time dashboard that automatically updates itself every 5 minutes, we now have real-time visibility into our CAISO’s 5-minute ADS generator dispatches, our internal meter data reads, real-time imbalance energy, all of our schedules and all of the LMPs. Having a single screen with all of this information, which allows us to perform Real-Time analysis and reporting, has been amazing. Within just a few weeks after the Power Settlements implementation we have already found several internal and CAISO issues that we are following up on to further improve our generator performance.”

City of Vernon further commented, “Regarding the Power Settlements back-office functionality, now all of our CAISO data downloading is completely automated and we are able to shadow estimate and validate our CAISO settlement statements accurately and on time. Weekly reporting processes that we previously completed manually that would take days to perform are now able to be completed in about just 2 hours using the Power Settlements system. The Power Settlements modules for CAISO Settlements have provided us the transparency, calculation accuracy, and ease of use that we originally saw during the original Power Settlements demonstration. We are very pleased with the Power Settlements system.”

The Power Settlements solution for the CAISO market includes the ability to automatically download all CAISO data sources (including ADS, CMRI, OASIS, OMS, Master File, MRI Settlements, SIBR, etc.) screens to view the data, and a Create-a-Report screen to extract 100% of CAISO data sources to MS Excel for a range of dates. The Shadow Settlement module enables more than 150 charge codes to be shadow estimated and validated. The Settlements Analyzer Module is used to compare any two Settlement files to each other (CAISO or Shadow), automatically flags variances and potential disputes, and includes an unparalleled drill-down feature for analyzing billing determinants. The Visual Analytics module has both an historical and a Real-Time screen for viewing all of the components of a company’s generator dispatch.

“We are thrilled that the City of Vernon implemented the Power Settlements system. The implementation for the City of Vernon was our 12th deployment of the Power Settlements system for market participants in the CAISO market. The City of Vernon has been a great customer and we look forward to supporting them for many years to come”, said David Dan, CEO of Power Settlements.

About the City of Vernon

The City of Vernon Gas & Electric Department serves as an essential resource to the city’s business community, providing dependable, high-quality utility services at very competitive rates. Gas & Electric offers electricity, natural gas and fiber optic services to Vernon based businesses, often at a cost savings compared to neighboring utility providers. The City-owned electric, natural gas and fiber optic distribution systems have a strong, established history of reliability, capable of efficiently and successfully serving the needs of the City’s unique business community.

Please visit http://www.cityofvernon.org/departments/gas-and-electric for more information about the City of Vernon and its facilities.

About the Power Settlements SettleCore Solution

SettleCore is a leading platform for participants in the ISO and RTO Markets. The SettleCore ISO/RTO modules enable full bid-to-bill functionality from bid submission through data downloading, reporting, and shadow settlements and settlement statement validation in the ISO markets. The SettleCore Visual Analytics Module is the leading visual dashboard for analysis of ISO dispatch and automatic flagging of events to avoid costs and highlight trading opportunities. Visual Analytics displays data in both an historical screen as well as an on-demand real-time screen. The SettleCore ETRM system includes a very robust, modular and fully integrated Energy Trading and Risk Management system, which includes power and natural gas deal entry for transactions in ISOs as well as bilateral transactions outside ISOs, settlements and invoicing, mark-to-market, the enforcement of counterparty credit and trader limits and risk management analytics. All of the SettleCore modules are fully integrated in a single system built in Microsoft .Net, using the SQL Server database that provides for full auditability, traceability, and user security roles.

More information about Power Settlements can be found at http://powersettlements.com/

Power Settlements Announces the Release of the CAISO EIM Module

mwcms on October 1, 2015

Power Settlements is pleased to announce the release of the SettleCore – EIM Module for CAISO EIM market participants. This fully functional module for market participants of the California ISO’s Energy Imbalance Market (“EIM”) may be used by EIM Entities and EIM Participating Resources and includes the following features:

Download 100% of CAISO EIM data, including BSAP (baseline schedules), CMRI (awards), ADS (5-minute dispatches), OMS (generator outages), OASIS (LMPs), Master File, and MRI Settlements (Settlement Statements, Billing Determinants, and Invoices).
Screens and reports to view and extract all EIM data.
Shadow Settlement and Validation of all EIM charge codes.
Graphical analysis of historical and Real-Time CAISO dispatch.

“Power Settlements is one of the largest vendors for CAISO market participants, and now CAISO EIM market participants will be able to utilize our market-leading software for their participation in the CAISO EIM market,” said David Dan, CEO of Power Settlements. “We look forward to the EIM members joining the CAISO EIM market and are pleased to provide software for their CAISO EIM participation.”

More information about Power Settlements can be found at http://powersettlements.com/

San Francisco has Successful Go-Live of the Power Settlements Energy Trading and Scheduling Solution with CAISO Integration and Settlements

mwcms on July 1, 2015

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (“SFPUC”), the City of San Francisco, CA’s municipal power utility that provides for municipal city loads and owns and operates the 400 MW Hetch Hetchy hydroelectric system, has successfully implemented the Power Settlements SettleCore™ solution for their Energy Trading and Risk Management (ETRM) and ISO needs. Read More about San Francisco has Successful Go-Live of the Power Settlements Energy Trading and Scheduling Solution with CAISO Integration and Settlements

Dairyland Power Cooperative Selects SettleCore for Shadow Settlements in MISO

mwcms on June 1, 2015

Dairyland Power Cooperative (DPC), consisting of 25 member systems with a total peak load in excess of 1,000 MW and generation capacity in excess of 1,300 MW has implemented the Power Settlements shadow settlement system to perform shadow settlement estimates and validations of their MISO market settlement charge types. After a rigorous testing period, Dairyland moved SettleCore™ Read More about Dairyland Power Cooperative Selects SettleCore for Shadow Settlements in MISO

Power Settlements Releases Risk Analytics Module for Public Power Utilities

mwcms on April 1, 2015

Power Settlements has deployed its new SettleCore™ – Risk Analytics Module to customers. This module rounds out our ETRM (energy trading and risk management) offering that is used by public power utilities. The SettleCore – Risk Analytics Module is used to calculate Value at Risk (VaR) for physical and financial power, including CRR and FTR positions, and natural gas transactions. This module assists customers with monitoring their risk exposure for forward positions. With this module Read More about Power Settlements Releases Risk Analytics Module for Public Power Utilities

Happy One Year Anniversary City of Pasadena. An ETRM Success Story.

mwcms on October 30, 2014

When the City of Pasadena selected SettleCore™ ETRM over a year ago they required an energy trading and risk management (“ETRM”) system to be fully integrated with their Bid-to-Bill shadow settlements system. Their story was a common one among their utility industry peers. They were looking for a vendor that had one single system that encompassed all of their ETRM needs and their Bid-to-Bill needs Read More about Happy One Year Anniversary City of Pasadena. An ETRM Success Story.