New generation fleet management solutions for optimal generation dispatch: Enabling the management of smart grids complexity

Smart grids will play an important role in helping the power sector meet the challenges of the future. They will be required to accommodate the increase in intermittent renewable energy as well as handle and display data related to energy flow characteristics across the entire deregulated energy value chain. This will require changing the way in which they operate in order to reduce emissions; improve efficiency while offering more ramping capabilities to the system. They will also have to change the way in which they transact with these new smarter grids. Accordingly, plant operators will require new operational cockpits for power plant control and management solutions facilitating decisions on alternative dispatch strategies, arbitration on asset life cycle management as well as real-time transactions with other portfolio players in the markets. Until now, real-time performance requirements and limited industry standardisation for data exchange with the energy eco-system outside the power plant led the industry towards highly customised solutions based on proprietary system platforms. In addition, the separation of the utility markets into generation, transmission and distribution has historically limited the opportunities to leverage software development for energy management across energy segments. As a results of the new Smart Grids awareness, new standardisation initiatives emerges as well as new recommendations to evolve IT platform strategies from proprietary web-based user interfaces towards Service-Oriented Architecture concepts while expanding standards and data models to their specific process characteristics.