WO2013070958A2 - Systèmes et procédés de gestion d'enchères virtuelles/convergentes - Google Patents

Systèmes et procédés de gestion d'enchères virtuelles/convergentes Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2013070958A2
WO2013070958A2 PCT/US2012/064212 US2012064212W WO2013070958A2 WO 2013070958 A2 WO2013070958 A2 WO 2013070958A2 US 2012064212 W US2012064212 W US 2012064212W WO 2013070958 A2 WO2013070958 A2 WO 2013070958A2
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
bid
convergence
virtual
management
engine
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PCT/US2012/064212
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English (en)
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WO2013070958A3 (fr
Inventor
Karl A. Simmons
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Gridspeak Corporation
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Publication of WO2013070958A2 publication Critical patent/WO2013070958A2/fr
Publication of WO2013070958A3 publication Critical patent/WO2013070958A3/fr

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
    • G06Q10/0631—Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
    • G06Q10/06316—Sequencing of tasks or work
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
    • G06Q10/0633—Workflow analysis
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
    • G06Q30/08—Auctions
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q40/00—Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
    • G06Q40/04—Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Definitions

  • Convergence bidding is a mechanism implemented primarily in deregulated electricity markets, whereby market participants can make financial sales or purchases of energy in a forward market with the explicit requirement to buy or sell back that energy in a real-time market.
  • Convergence bidding is also known as virtual bidding to reflect the fact that the energy purchased or sold in the forward market is a purely financial transaction and is not intended for actual consumption or delivery in real-time.
  • the trade execution system generally maintained by grid operators, ensures that all virtual positions will be closed before delivery time. Virtual bids pressure forward and real-time prices to move closer together, thus reducing the incentive for buyers and sellers to forgo bidding physical schedules in the forward market in expectation of better prices in the real-time market.
  • Convergence/virtual bidding in electricity markets usually occurs for very short time horizons, usually between a day-ahead market and the real-time market.
  • Virtual/convergence bidding is implemented for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that in its absence there is a tendency for implicit virtual bidding to occur and the presence of this practice tends to create difficulties for grid operators.
  • the presence of virtual bidding creates an appropriate avenue for arbitrage and in essence assists reliability.
  • the virtual/convergence bidding platform gives financial entities a way to participate in these multi-settlement physical markets with no physical assets or presence on the grid.
  • CBEs Convergence Bidding Entities
  • SCs Scheduling Coordinators
  • CRR Congestion Revenue Rights
  • CBEs can be any entity registered to bid in the multi-settlement electricity markets, examples of which may be Load Serving Entities (LSEs) (e.g., investor owned utilities (IOUs), energy service providers (ESPs) and community choice aggregators (CCAs)), power generators, financial entities and other entities.
  • LSEs Load Serving Entities
  • IOUs investor owned utilities
  • ESPs energy service providers
  • CCAs community choice aggregators
  • bid can be used loosely to refer to an offer to buy or to sell.
  • Convergence/ virtual bidding can be implemented in a nodal market, where participants may submit bids at thousands of individual nodes or trading hubs. For example, in the day-ahead market, buy or sell financial positions (not physical delivery) may be submitted at a location (a physical node or pnode).
  • the invention relates to systems and methods for instantly and electronically identifying opportunities and creating, brokering and managing virtual/convergence bids in the wholesale electricity market. More specifically, the invention relates to systems and methods for identifying opportunities and creating, brokering and managing virtual/convergence bids on a mobile device, or web interface, determining required collateral to post the bid, creating notification requests for collateral and managing collateral, submitting the bid to the grid operator electronically, receiving and communicating acknowledgement of receipt, acceptance or rejection of the bid and settlement of the bid on market close.
  • One aspect of the invention relates to a virtual/convergence bid management system comprising one or more management interfaces hosted on one or more devices with a display, wherein the one or more management interfaces are configured to accept input from one or more users via a graphical interface shown on the display; and one or more engines in communication with the one or more management interfaces over a network, wherein the one or more engines are configured to process, with the aid of one or more processors and a memory, the input from one or more users in accordance with one or more workflow rules and algorithms, and wherein the one or more engines are configured to communicate virtual/convergence bid related information with the one or more management interfaces.
  • a further aspect of the invention provides a method for virtual/convergence bid management, said method comprising providing a management system comprising one or more processors and a memory, wherein the management system is configured to store one or more virtual/convergence bid tasks within the memory; accepting, at the management system, a user request or response input and virtual/convergence bid information; and providing, from the management system, one or more virtual/convergence bid notifications or requests, wherein said notifications or requests are generated using the one or more processors of the management system based on the user request or response input and virtual/convergence bid information in accordance with one or more workflow rules.
  • FIG. 1 shows a virtual/convergence bid management system in communication with a grid operator and one or more customers.
  • FIG. 2 shows a virtual/convergence bid management system.
  • FIG. 3 shows a plurality of devices capable of communicating with a server over a network.
  • the invention provides systems and methods for the management of the
  • FIG. 1 shows a virtual/convergence bid management system.
  • the virtual/convergence bid management system may receive input from a grid operator and/or one or more customers who may be interacting with one or more interfaces of the virtual/convergence bid management system.
  • the one or more customers may include but are not limited to CBEs such as LSEs (e.g., IOUs, ESPs and CCAs), power generators, various system resource entities, transmission owners or transmission operators, financial entities and/or other market participants such as traders, agents or speculators; SCs; CRR holders; and other entities. These entities may interact with the system as customers and/or may interact with the system in other ways described herein.
  • CBEs such as LSEs (e.g., IOUs, ESPs and CCAs)
  • power generators e.g., various system resource entities, transmission owners or transmission operators, financial entities and/or other market participants such as traders, agents or speculators; SCs; CRR holders; and other entities.
  • These entities may
  • one or more of these entities may interact with the system by proxy.
  • a regulatory agency may require the grid operator to submit periodic reports rather than having direct access to the system as a customer.
  • the one or more customers may further include one or more entities, such as for example one or more traders, that use the system in association with another customer, such as for example a brokerage entity.
  • Inputs from parties interacting with the system may include status and information requests regarding trades, accounts and credit, collateral, power supply, transmission and demand, prices and market metrics, bids to sell, bids to buy, acceptance or rejection of bids, settlement transfers, scheduling input and/or
  • the virtual/convergence bid management system may automatically process the inputs in accordance with one or more sets of rules.
  • the rules may be predetermined.
  • the virtual/convergence bid management system may automatically receive input from a system participant and send requests and/or updates to one or more system participants according to a set of predetermined rules without requiring user interaction.
  • the predetermined rules may include determining day-ahead or real-time supply, transmission and demand, market performance metrics, bid rating and/or historical performance of a particular bidder, collateral metrics, account status, matching bids to sell with bids to buy for bid aggregation, node pricing, node trading volume or quantity, scheduling, settlement timing and other virtual/convergence bid metrics and market projections.
  • the system may accept bids and/or create bids.
  • virtual/convergence bid management system may accept a user input that may be incorporated into processing of another input.
  • the management system may accept a user input that may alter the predetermined rules.
  • the virtual/convergence bid management system may manage day-ahead bidding as well as real-time settlement.
  • the system may handle virtual demand bought in the day-ahead market and sold back in the real-time market, virtual supply sold in the day-ahead market and bought back in the real-time market and virtual awards liquidated in the real-time market.
  • This multi-market market may require that the system keep track of trading in multiple markets as well as settlements between markets.
  • the virtual/convergence bid management system may update system status and provide information and/or requests to system participants.
  • the virtual/convergence bid management system may receive or create a bid to sell, notify the buyer of receipt or request acceptance of creation, evaluate the bid according to market bidding requirements and/or metrics, match the bid to sell with a bid to buy or create a bid to buy, request input from a buyer to confirm the transaction, update the transaction to the system and notify all parties of its completion.
  • the market bidding requirements and/or metrics may include credit and collateral requirements, and the system may request, update and/or otherwise manage customer credit and collateral.
  • the system may further interact (e.g., update, organize and evaluate, pull information, manage according to user and/or system settings) with customer and/or brokerage accounts to dynamically reflect the processing of bids, collateral and settlements.
  • the system may further create explicit requirements to buy or sell back that energy in the real-time market.
  • the energy (power) bought or sold in the real-time market may refer to power generated by power generators or other power-supplying entities, transmitted over the electricity grid and consumed at loads.
  • the system may enforce settlement of bids on market close.
  • the system may evaluate bidding incentives for various system participants, may create or suggest bidding opportunities and/or may provide dynamic scheduling of bids in accordance with maximizing stability of the electricity grid by hedging energy demand or delivery commitments and achieving price convergence.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates a virtual/convergence bid management system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
  • the virtual/convergence bid management system may comprise a workflow engine 4.
  • the workflow engine or system (or portions thereof) may communicate electronically with a grid operator system 5 via one or more web servers 1.
  • the grid operator 5 may or may not have a separate management interface (not shown).
  • the workflow engine or system (or portions thereof) may further communicate electronically with a bid aggregation engine 6, a real-time analytics engine 7, which may be in further communication with a data visualization engine 8, and a settlements allocation engine 9, which may be in further communication with a credit and collateral management engine 10.
  • the credit and collateral management engine 10 may communicate with the bid aggregation engine 6.
  • the credit and collateral management engine 10 may interface electronically with an account and brokerage management engine 11.
  • the credit and collateral management engine 10 and data visualization engine 8 may communicate electronically with one or more management interfaces or customer account dashboards 2 via one or more web servers 3.
  • the one or more management interfaces may communicate with and/or reside on the one of more web servers.
  • one or more web or mobile interfaces for operations may be provided to the grid operator, customers and/or other system participants.
  • the one or more customer account dashboards 2 may be supplemented or replaced by one or more web or mobile interfaces.
  • the account and brokerage management engine 11 may communicate directly with the one or more customer account dashboards 2.
  • the account and brokerage management engine 11 may communicate with the one or more customer account dashboards 2 via the one or more web servers 3 and/or other communication channels (not shown).
  • the workflow engine 4 may serve as the central workflow facility managing the inputs, outputs, processing, scheduling and transactions of the system. Processing involving calculations, analysis and logic may reside separately in the real-time analytics engine 7 and may interact with the workflow engine 4. Such analytics may include optimization and/or other algorithms. Alternatively, the functionality of the real-time analytics engine 7 could reside within the workflow engine 4, within the engines 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, on the one or more servers 1, 3 and/or on one or more other devices that may be part of or in communication with the system as described elsewhere herein.
  • data visualization may reside in a data visualization engine 8.
  • the data visualization engine 8 may be aimed at providing visual representation of processes and workflow in the virtual/convergence bid management to the one or more customers.
  • the data visualization engine 8 may or may not also be aimed at providing visual representation of processes and workflow in the virtual/convergence bid management to the grid operator.
  • the grid operator system 5 may or may not have a separate data visualization engine within.
  • data visualization may reside elsewhere in the system, such as, for example, within the workflow engine 4.
  • data visualization may reside in two or more data visualization engines 8. For example, a first data visualization engine may interact with the workflow engine on the grid operator side and a second data visualization engine may interact with the workflow engine on the customer side.
  • Data visualization may include the workflow tools described herein.
  • a bid aggregation engine 6 comprising processing and analysis of bids may also be in communication with the workflow engine 4.
  • the functionality of the bid aggregation engine 6 could reside within the workflow engine 4, within the engines 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, on the one or more servers 1, 3 and/or on one or more other devices that may be part of or in communication with the system as described elsewhere herein.
  • the engines 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, may interact with user inputs and/or generate user output. Together, the engines 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, may comprise the processing center of the virtual/convergence bid management, wherein the engines 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, may provide processing input and output to the workflow engine 4, which may be in charge of the workflow itself. Alternatively, workflow management may be distributed between the one or more engines 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
  • the web servers 1, 3 may act as electronic information transfer hubs connecting the engines 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 with the one or more users 5, 2. In some embodiments, the web servers 1, 3 may act as processing units in their own right, as described elsewhere herein.
  • Processing of pnode information may reside in one or more of the engines 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
  • Pnode information provided to the system by users and/or sensors may be used in processing of bids and/or settlements as provided by the one or more engines in accordance with the present invention.
  • Processing operations in the virtual/convergence bid management system may be performed per individual node and/or per groups of nodes.
  • Processing in accordance with the present invention may be extended or adapted to markets where bids may not be submitted at nodes.
  • Virtual/convergence bidding may involve, in addition to bidding in the forward and real-time markets, enforcing physical power delivery in accordance with trading in the real-time market.
  • Physical power delivery may include power generation by power generators or other power-supplying entities, power transmission over the electricity grid and load power consumption.
  • the system herein may monitor compliance with regulations.
  • the virtual/convergence bid management system may calculate financial incentives and charges and implement settlements within a market settlement period as provided by the rules of individual electricity markets.
  • the system may monitor supply and demand plans or projections, ancillary services availability and/or other information about the electricity grid. For example, the
  • virtual/convergence bid management system may freeze trading in the forward market in a situation where further trading may lead to excessive capacity requirements on the grid and failure of real-time settlement.
  • the system may be authorized to shut down trading in the event of run-away speculation.
  • Trading in the forward market may utilize information such as demand and supply plans in order to estimate real-time trading quantities.
  • the bidding functionality of the virtual/convergence bid management system of FIG. 2 may reside in the bid aggregation engine 6.
  • the bid aggregation engine 6 may collect bids supplied by users or created by the system, evaluate individual bids, package bids into larger groupings and/or evaluate bid matches in accordance with system algorithms. Bids may, for example, be aggregated to achieve a certain level of diversification or risk profile. Bids may also be aggregated according to bidder type, location and/or other factor. Bids may be aggregated temporally. Bid aggregation may be customized according to pnode. Bids may be processed individually and simply be aggregated for processing in the bid aggregation engine 6.
  • the bid aggregation engine 6 may provide processing functionality complementary or substituting some of the functionality of the real-time analytics engine 7.
  • the bid aggregation engine 6 may process information based on information provided by the credit and collateral management engine 10. For example, bidding collateral requirements may need to be cleared by the credit and collateral management engine 10 before aggregation in the bid aggregation engine 6.
  • the function of the bid aggregation engine may, for example, reside in the workflow engine 4, the real-time analytics engine 7 or the credit and collateral management engine 10.
  • the bid aggregation engine 6 may specialize in handling customer input and organize such data for further communication to the workflow engine 4.
  • the workflow engine 4 may then initiate further processing or may direct data processing results from the bid aggregation engine 6 to the grid operator 5 via the one or more servers 1.
  • the bid aggregation engine 6 may include optimization and/or other algorithms for bid aggregation based on market metrics and/or user input.
  • the settlement allocation of the virtual/convergence bid management system of FIG. 2 may reside in the settlement allocation engine 9.
  • the settlement allocation engine 9 may enforce bid settlements in the real-time markets.
  • the grid operator 5 may settle bids at real-time prices in settlement proceedings that may last weeks or months, while the system may provide preliminary settlement information and/or settlement estimates to the customer in real-time and update settlement status/information to reflect developments in the long-term proceedings.
  • Settlement assessment provided by the system may enable the system and/or the customers to dynamically adjust customer market participation.
  • the engine may collect bid information from multi-settlement markets and provide processing to determine settlements necessary to comply with regulation.
  • the engine may further provide optimal settlement paths to customers.
  • the settlement allocation engine 9 may communicate obligations and tasks to be completed to fulfill these obligations after market close to customers.
  • the settlement allocation engine 9 may communicate with the credit and collateral management engine 10, which may then further communicate with customers 2 via the one or more web servers 3.
  • the credit and collateral management engine 10 may or may not further process settlement information originating in the settlements allocation engine 9 and may communicate settlement information to the bid aggregation engine 6 and/or the account and brokerage management engine 11. Settlement processing may be customized according to pnode.
  • Settlements may follow predetermined rules or regulations. Settlements may involve offsetting financial obligations against physical compensation, for example in the form of electricity supply. Settlement management may involve short- or long-term settlement agreements.
  • the settlement allocation engine 9 may provide customers with multiple settlement strategies. The settlement allocation engine 9 may also provide customers with non-negotiable settlements. The settlement allocation engine 9 may further provide functionality to transact settlements within the virtual/convergence bid management system. Settlements may be processed individually or may be aggregated. In some embodiments, settlement processing may involve creating settlement derivative instruments.
  • the settlement allocation engine 9 may provide processing functionality complementary or substituting some of the functionality of the real-time analytics engine 7 or the credit and collateral management engine 10. Alternatively, the function of settlement allocation engine may, for example, reside in the workflow engine 4, the real-time analytics engine 7 or the credit and collateral management engine 10.
  • the settlement allocation engine 9 may include optimization and/or other algorithms for determining settlement paths.
  • the credit and collateral management engine 10 of the virtual/convergence bid management system of FIG. 2 may process settlement processing results from the settlements allocation engine 9. For example, a bid settlement may translate to a financial gain (or loss) for a customer.
  • the credit and collateral management engine 10 may then communicate the settled trade to the one or more customers via the one or more web servers 3 and provide updated credit, trading and/or financial information to the account and brokerage management engine 11.
  • the system may evaluate updated collateral and or other trading metrics for a customer. Such procedures may enable market participants to better manage financial decisions in the short term without the need to wait for long-term settlement results.
  • the credit and collateral management engine 10 may evaluate credit and collateral requirements according to various trading metrics (e.g., a large bid may require a large collateral and/or a good credit history) and, aided by account and credit information provided by the account and brokerage management engine 11, may approve or reject a bid and communicate this result to the bid aggregation engine 6. For example, a bid may be cleared if customer credit meets market requirements.
  • Clearing or rejecting bids may involve calculation of exposure from average prices and/or other analytical processing steps involving for example customer credit, available collateral, market metrics and size of bid.
  • the system may be configured to communicate approved or rejected bids to customers, for example via the account and brokerage management engine 11 and/or via one or more other system components.
  • the account and brokerage management engine 11 may comprise information storage and processes to evaluate and/or communicate information about customer accounts.
  • the account and brokerage management system 11 may accommodate brokering of virtual/convergence bids.
  • a broker account may allow the virtual/convergence bid management system of FIG. 2 to accommodate customers that require brokerage services. Such customers may be independent entities with insufficient collateral to participate in the wholesale electricity market.
  • Broker accounts may be split into smaller entities reflecting individual traders, allowing brokers to manage individual traders within the virtual/convergence bid management system.
  • the account and brokerage management engine 11 may or may not be customized according to user needs and may follow predetermined rules. Further, the account and brokerage management engine 11 may include risk assessment features for brokers. Alternatively, brokers may manage individual customers internally.
  • the account and brokerage management engine 11 may be configured to interact with the credit and collateral management engine 10 in accordance with type of account (regular or broker).
  • the management system may or may not provide individual brokerage customers access to portions or all features in the virtual/convergence bid management system.
  • a brokerage customer may be able to trade independently within the umbrella brokerage account provided the trader is able to meet financial requirements and obligation set forth by the broker.
  • brokerage customers may trade by proxy (through the broker).
  • the management engine 11 may relate to any virtual/convergence bid related information, such as trades, investment performance, collateral and settlement history, forecasts, nodal statistics, financial state (e.g., expected profit, obligations, capitalization and cash flow) and other account and brokerage information. Further, the account and brokerage management engine 11 may process transactions and store information regarding virtual/convergence bid management system user fees (e.g., market fee, platform fee, brokerage fee). The fee management may allow customers to select different levels of sophistication of the virtual/convergence bid management system as reflected in user fees.
  • virtual/convergence bid related information such as trades, investment performance, collateral and settlement history, forecasts, nodal statistics, financial state (e.g., expected profit, obligations, capitalization and cash flow) and other account and brokerage information.
  • financial state e.g., expected profit, obligations, capitalization and cash flow
  • financial state e.g., expected profit, obligations, capitalization and cash flow
  • other account and brokerage management engine 11 may process transactions and store information regarding virtual/convergence bid management system user fees (e
  • a grid operator 5 may provide pnode and/or bidding information to the
  • the grid operator system 5 may comprise an electronic grid monitoring system, such as for example
  • the web server 1 may communicate electronically with the workflow engine 4, which may be the main workflow management unit of the virtual/convergence bid management system.
  • the workflow engine 4 may initiate processing operations in the real-time analytics engine 7 and the settlements allocation engine 9. The processing operations may be initiated in accordance with workflow rules.
  • the processing operations in the real-time analytics engine 7 may be further processed and arranged according to the data visualization principles of the present invention in the data visualization engine 8 prior to communication to users.
  • Visual information and data may be transferred to the one or more customers via the one or more web servers 3.
  • the processing results from the settlements allocation engine 9 may be communicated to the credit and collateral management engine 10 for further processing and/or transfer to the one or more customers via the one or more web servers 3.
  • the customers may view this output via one or more customer account dashboards 2, which may be mobile devices, web interfaces or the like.
  • the one or more customers may provide active responses, automated responses or a combination of active and automated responses to said outputs.
  • the one or more customers may also not respond to said output.
  • Customer responses may include creating bids, responding to bids and/or any other virtual/convergence bid action described herein.
  • Customer responses may be communicated back to the workflow engine 4 via the one or more web servers 3, wherein the responses may be processed in the credit and collateral management engine 10 and further in the bid aggregation engine 6 prior to submission to the workflow engine 4.
  • the credit and collateral management engine 10 may interact with the account and brokerage management engine 11 in addition to processing and/or interaction with other system components.
  • the credit and collateral management engine 10 may require information from and/or provide information to the account and brokerage management engine 11 prior to, during and/or after performing a processing task related to communication with the engines 9, 6 and/or the one or more web servers 3.
  • the account and brokerage management engine 11 may communicate account information to customers via said one or more customer account dashboards 2.
  • the workflow engine may schedule, approve, output or prompt information and/or tasks based on results of this processing.
  • the workflow may take these actions based of workflow rules described herein.
  • Results of processing and workflow operations may be communicated to the grid operator.
  • Such results may include bid information and/or a request to implement bids on the electricity grid controlled by the grid operator.
  • the virtual/convergence bid management system information flows may appear to be sequential as described, the information flows may be dynamic and occur sequentially, in parallel or a mixture thereof.
  • sensor input may be continuous while a trading operation may require sequential approval of trading partners.
  • the workflow engine 4 may comprise administration tools for designing rules for workflow. Such tools may be used to customize workflow parameters, define checklists and define criteria for virtual/convergence bid management processes within the workflow engine 4.
  • the tools may reside within the workflow engine, on a web server, within another engine in the system and/or on any computer or other network device in communication with these system components. Any description of workflow tools herein may also be applied to a workflow engine, in which case the workflow engine may be understood to comprise these tools.
  • workflow tools may reside in the data visualization engine 8.
  • FIG. 3 shows a plurality of devices 300a, 300b, 300c capable of communicating with a server 304 over a network 302.
  • the devices 300a, 300b, 300c may be network devices.
  • the devices may be the same type of device and/or may include different types of devices.
  • the devices may be a computer 300a, a smartphone 300b, and/or a tablet 300c.
  • Mobile devices may interact with the system.
  • the devices 300a, 300b, 300c may communicate with a web server 304.
  • Network devices may include computers whether they be a personal computer, server computer, or laptop computer; mobile devices, such as a tablet, personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as a Palm-based device or Windows CE device; phones such as cellular phones,
  • PDAs personal digital assistants
  • Palm-based device or Windows CE device
  • phones such as cellular phones
  • smartphones e.g., iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Treo
  • a wireless device such as a wireless email device or other device capable of communicating wirelessly with a computer network or other communication network; or any other type of network device that may communicate over a network and handle electronic transactions. Any discussion herein of computers or mobile devices may also be applied to any other network devices as provided.
  • a computer or other network device may communicate with the one or more web servers.
  • the communication between a network device and a web server may be, for example, a connection between a client computer and a website server over a network.
  • One or more servers may communicate with one or more computers or other network devices across a network.
  • the network for example, can include a private network, such as a LAN, or interconnections to the online organizations over a communications network, such as the Internet or World Wide Web or any other network that is capable of communicating digital data, such as a wireless, cellular, or telecommunications network.
  • Each computer or other network device may connect to one or more web servers over the network using data protocols, such as HTTP, HTTPS and the like.
  • the workflow tools herein may provide an object-based, graphical interface modeling the individual tasks required to complete a task within the virtual/convergence bid management process.
  • a user may interact with a server, computer, mobile device (e.g., tablet, smartphone) or other network device that may host the workflow tools.
  • the device may have a processor and a memory that may store an operating system (OS) and a browser application or other application to facilitate communications with the web server.
  • OS operating system
  • the operating system may operate to display a graphical user interface to the user and permit the user to execute other computer programs, such as a browser application.
  • the browser application such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, when executed by the processor, permits the user to access the World Wide Web as is well known.
  • a server, computer, or other network device that may host the workflow tools may have a display which displays a graphical user interface. Any display known in the art may be used including, but not limited to, a cathode ray tube, a liquid crystal display, a plasma screen, a touchscreen, an LED screen, or an OLED display.
  • Each task within the virtual/convergence bid management process may be an individual piece of work that may occur to complete a process. Tasks may be completed by a person, automated, completed automatically through the passage of time or conditioned on additional information. Tasks may also be a combination of timed and some other type, such as "person timed” or "automated timed.”
  • One or more tasks may occur to a set of workflow rules.
  • the rules may dictate when a user performs one or more steps, or when a machine automatically performs one or more steps.
  • the rules may be based on timing, sequence, results from prior tasks, automatically received information, or inputs from users.
  • the tasks may be executed by a person or by one or more computers.
  • the computers or other network devices may have one or more processors and memory and may include non-transitory and/or tangible computer readable media which may contain instructions, logic, data, or code that may be stored in persistent or temporary memory of the computer or other device, or may somehow affect or initiate action by the computer or other device. All tasks may be conditionally started using selection criteria. In some embodiments, the tasks may be involved with initiating, confirming, scheduling, or executing market operations.
  • the workfiow rules may be predefined or defined to follow regulations.
  • workfiow tools may be provided to or accessed by one or more entities (also referred to as "users" herein) including but not limited to system participants described elsewhere herein.
  • An entity may further define the rules or selection criteria to meet the entity's needs. For example, if multiple companies receive the workfiow tools, the workfiow may be designed to meet corporate policies. The workfiow may be user-configured to follow customer business rules.
  • the regulations may be determined by a governmental body or regulatory authority. The workflow may be designed to meet government or industry standards.
  • the invention may utilize an object-based representation of the internal software processes to allow for modification of the workfiow process after the workflow engine 4 is compiled and installed. Such functionality may reside in the data visualization engine 8.
  • the object-based workflow tools may permit dynamic alterations to the workfiow engine 4 such that the entire workfiow process may be re-ordered or the steps rearranged without restarting system components or reinstalling the workfiow engine.
  • a task may be removed and reinserted into the workfiow.
  • Connection arrows may be deleted and reinserted to reorder the workfiow process.
  • a graphical user interface may be provided that may allow a user to add one or more tasks, remove one or more tasks, or move one or more tasks within the workflow process. Connection arrows may be added, removed, and/or moved in the workfiow process.
  • Such actions may occur by use of any interactive device which may include, but is not limited to, a keyboard, mouse, trackball, stick, remote, touchscreen, or touchpad.
  • the visual representation of the tasks may be visually mapped according to a sequence or according to time.
  • tasks that may occur later in time or sequence may be located toward one end of the display and tasks that may occur earlier in time may be displayed toward the other end of the display.
  • a task that may occur earlier in time or sequence may be at the left of a display and a task that occurs later in time or sequence may be at the right of a display.
  • a task that may occur earlier in time or sequence may be at the top of a display and a task that occurs later in time or sequence may be at the bottom of a display.
  • the location of the visual representation of the task on the display need not have a relationship with the timing or sequence of the task.
  • a connection arrow or other connecting representation may indicate the order of tasks.
  • the connector may indicate a relationship between the tasks (e.g., whether they have a conditional relationship or not, or whether information is provided from one task to another).
  • the workflow process may be preconfigured or have a default setting.
  • the default setting may be the same for all entities. In other embodiments, the default setting may vary between the entities.
  • the default settings may be set according to each entity's preferences. A user may modify or configure the workflow process. In some embodiments,
  • the user may only modify certain parts of the workflow process, or may only modify the workflow process to fit within preset specifications.
  • the default settings or any modifications to the settings may be stored in memory on the one or more web servers, on a device hosting the workflow tools and/or on one or more devices hosting the workflow, bid aggregation, real-time analytics, settlements allocation, data visualization, credit and collateral management and/or account and brokerage management engines.
  • the workflow engine 4 may collect information and details, such as bids, quantities traded at various pnodes, trading frequency, etc. associated with virtual/convergence bidding.
  • the workflow engine and/or the workflow tools may provide a list of bid requests and/or may prioritize these requests.
  • the workflow engine and/or the workflow tools may schedule bidding transactions and/or settlements or adjust timing of these tasks. In some embodiments, any user interface may assist with scheduling of these tasks.
  • the workflow engine 4 may use selection criteria to evaluate all bidding requests and may render decisions as to whether or not to start a task. All tasks may be completed in a sequence defined by a checklist. Roles, performers, operators and other entities may be defined using the workflow tools.
  • One or more customers may interact with the virtual/convergence bid management system.
  • the one or more customers may optionally design rules for workflow and/or interact with the workflow tools of the virtual/convergence bid management system.
  • the one or more customers may provide bids, bidding preferences and/or other information.
  • the one or more customer account dashboards 2 may be reporting interfaces that may report on the status of the forward and/or real-time markets.
  • the one or more customer account dashboards 2 may also report on requests, notifications and transactions in the system.
  • the one or more customer account dashboards 2 may report user account information (e.g., credit and settlement information, account performance and history, brokering information including statistics and performance of individual traders).
  • the customer account dashboard may provide a graphical user interface that may be shown on a display of a device.
  • the customer account dashboard may be hosted by and/or displayed on the same computer or network device as one or more other components in the system.
  • the customer account dashboard may be hosted on the web server 3.
  • the customer account dashboard may be hosted by and/or displayed on the same computer or network device as one or more of the engines 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or a different computer or network device than said engines.
  • the customer account dashboard may be hosted by and/or displayed on a different computer or network device than one or more other components in the system.
  • the one or more web servers 3 may accept and send information to be displayed.
  • the one or more web servers may receive configuration and information instructions for the workflow engine.
  • the one or more web servers may communicate with the one or more customer account dashboards which may display virtual/convergence bid information.
  • the one or more web servers may communicate with one or more devices hosting the one or more customer account dashboards through a network. Any of the connections previously described may be used to permit communication between the one or more web servers and the one or more devices.
  • Any description of communication between the one or more web servers 3 and the one or more customer account dashboards 2 herein may also be applied to communication between one or more engines (e.g., the account and brokerage management engine 11) and the one or more customer account dashboards 2 without the one or more web servers 3.
  • the account and brokerage management engine 11 may comprise means to communicate electronically with the one or more customer account dashboards 2 through a network.
  • the displayed information may include spot price, quantity traded at one or more nodes, financial gains, losses and obligations, deadlines, trends etc.
  • the information may be displayed as values and/or graphs.
  • the one or more customer account dashboards may indicate whether requests have been approved or not, associated scheduling, trading status, market supply/demand, etc.
  • a grid operator 5 may have an electronic system managed by the grid operator to receive and respond to requests. Alternatively, the system may provide a management interface to the grid operator.
  • a workflow engine 4 may send bid information or request to the grid operator via the one or more servers 1.
  • the request may include details about bids, trading status, bidding trends, market price, settlements and so on.
  • the grid operator may provide a response.
  • the response may be acceptance of a request.
  • An acceptance may also comprise implementation of a transaction on the electricity grid.
  • the response may be denial of the request.
  • the grid operator may be obliged to implement some requests.
  • the grid operator may provide feedback confirming that an operation was executed.
  • the grid operator may also have the authority to override some requests and/or interfere with the virtual/convergence bid management system.
  • the workflow engine 4 may provide a start signal to the grid operator 5 via the one or more servers 1.
  • the start signal may cause the grid operator to start a physical transfer on the electricity grid.
  • the start signal may be provided if the grid operator previously provided an acceptance of a request. In other embodiments, the start signal may be timed.
  • One or more of the workflow engine 4, bid aggregation engine 6, real-time analytics engine 7, data visualization engine 8, settlements allocation engine 9, credit and collateral management engine 10, account and brokerage management engine 11, web servers 1, 3 and/or the management interfaces may be in communication with one or more email clients (not shown) in accordance with some embodiments of the invention.
  • the email client may be a standard email client or any email client known in the art, where the user can get notification messages from the workflow engine and may initiate or respond to workflow action requests per workflow rules. In other embodiments, such user interactions may occur through a computer, mobile device, or any other network device and may or may not involve an email client. These devices may or may not host other components of the present system.
  • the management system may be in communication with one or more sensors that may provide input that may be incorporated into system processing.
  • a sensor may include a utility meter.
  • the utility meter may indicate generation status, level, or trends.
  • the utility meter may provide an indication supply and demand.
  • the management system may directly communicate with utility meters, monitoring data processing gateways, or meter data management systems on a preconfigured interval or as directed by user parameters. Such data may be collected, processed and delivered to relevant parties. For example, a user may input a planned or predicted outage, and a utility meter may indicate an unplanned outage.
  • the virtual/convergence bid management system may also communicate with one or more sensors by proxy. For example, outage information may be provided to a grid operator, wherein the grid operator, being a user, may supply information to the system.
  • One or more steps performed by the engines 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, the web servers 1, 3 and/or the management interfaces 5, 2 may be through the aid of one or more processors and a memory.
  • Each system component may comprise one or more processors and/or one or more physical memory locations.
  • processors may be shared by one or more system components, or may be provided externally.
  • one or more system components may share a memory location.
  • the memory location may be provided internally to the management system in FIG. 2, externally to the management system in FIG. 2 or a combination thereof.
  • the method may include instantly and electronically identifying opportunities and creating and managing virtual/convergence bids in the wholesale electricity market.
  • the method may comprise brokering virtual/convergence bids and managing customer associated customer accounts.
  • the method may further include identifying opportunities and creating and managing virtual/convergence bids on a mobile device, or web interface, submitting the bid to a grid operator electronically, receiving and communicating acknowledgement of receipt, acceptance or rejection of the bid and settlement of the bid on market close.
  • the method may comprise providing a management system in accordance with another aspect of the invention.
  • Users may interact with the system to provide information, receive information or notifications, receive bid suggestions, submit bids, receive requests and/or submit responses. Further information may be provided by other system participants, including, for example, various sensors.
  • the system may optimize, schedule or otherwise process such user exchange to provide management tasks and to initiate further user exchange.
  • User exchange may involve one or more transactions, such as, for example, user exchange resulting in approved trades that may change the overall state of the electricity grid.
  • the method may involve notifying users of trading status, such as quantities trading, electricity spot price, real-time and/or projected power supply and demand and other metrics, allowing users to place and accept bids, managing user collateral and obligations, and
  • the method may include letting users create and submit bids to the forward and/or real-time markets based on information provided by the system.
  • the method may include allowing the system to create and suggest bids to the users.
  • the method may involve scheduling bids.
  • the management system may transact some operations automatically without requiring user input. Further, operations may be implemented on the electricity grid by a grid operator.
  • the method may allow transactions to be managed over mobile devices communicating with the system.
  • the method may provide management and timely settlement of bids. This may involve notifying users of financial requirements, proposing or requesting user action such as allocating settlement awards and providing transfer instructions, processing user action and updating the state of the virtual/convergence bid management information system and/or other tasks. Further, the method may comprise brokering virtual/convergence bids and managing associated customer accounts.
  • the virtual/convergence bid management process may include performing one or more tasks in accordance with workflow rules. The tasks may be performed sequentially.
  • workflow rules may be input to the virtual/convergence bid management system by a user.
  • the workflow rules input may include adding, removing, or modifying an existing task in the virtual/convergence bid management process.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne des systèmes et des procédés pour identifier instantanément et électroniquement des opportunités et créer, faire le courtage et gérer des enchères virtuelles/convergentes dans le marché de gros de l'électricité. Plus spécifiquement, l'invention porte sur des systèmes et des procédés pour identifier des opportunités et créer, faire le courtage et gérer des enchères virtuelles/convergentes sur un dispositif mobile, ou une interface web, déterminer une couverture requise pour publier l'enchère, créer des requêtes de notification pour une couverture et gérer une couverture, soumettre l'enchère à l'opérateur de réseau électrique par voie électronique, recevoir et communiquer un accusé de réception, une acceptation ou un rejet de l'enchère et un règlement de l'enchère à la fermeture du marché.
PCT/US2012/064212 2011-11-08 2012-11-08 Systèmes et procédés de gestion d'enchères virtuelles/convergentes WO2013070958A2 (fr)

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US201161557395P 2011-11-08 2011-11-08
US61/557,395 2011-11-08

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Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20030158808A1 (en) * 2002-02-19 2003-08-21 Fujitsu Limited Electronic bidding method for receiving a bidding form from a bidder for a supplied item via a virtual server secured until a bidding due date
JP2006527887A (ja) * 2003-06-18 2006-12-07 コパート、インコーポレイテッド オンライン入札システム
US20070179878A1 (en) * 2004-03-17 2007-08-02 Dae-Yeol Kim Method of optimum auction using network service
KR20070081495A (ko) * 2006-02-13 2007-08-17 (주) 솔빅스테크놀로지 모바일 경매 서비스 장치 및 방법
KR20080025465A (ko) * 2006-09-18 2008-03-21 에스케이 텔레콤주식회사 경매 서비스 시스템 및 서버 시스템 및 운용방법

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20030158808A1 (en) * 2002-02-19 2003-08-21 Fujitsu Limited Electronic bidding method for receiving a bidding form from a bidder for a supplied item via a virtual server secured until a bidding due date
JP2006527887A (ja) * 2003-06-18 2006-12-07 コパート、インコーポレイテッド オンライン入札システム
US20070179878A1 (en) * 2004-03-17 2007-08-02 Dae-Yeol Kim Method of optimum auction using network service
KR20070081495A (ko) * 2006-02-13 2007-08-17 (주) 솔빅스테크놀로지 모바일 경매 서비스 장치 및 방법
KR20080025465A (ko) * 2006-09-18 2008-03-21 에스케이 텔레콤주식회사 경매 서비스 시스템 및 서버 시스템 및 운용방법

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