Issue 30 - System Operator Newsletter

MSP Update

Acceptance Trials

On Monday 22nd, following successful completion of development and testing, we commenced a 4 week period of acceptance testing of the new market systems.  This acceptance period has the new systems operating in parallel to the current production systems, using the same base input market data and being run by our co ordination staff as if they were in live production.

Other than being fed by the same input data the new systems are not connected in any way to the current market systems.

We are looking to see that the new systems produce all schedules in the required times, that the contents are similar to the current systems and that all the publication, reporting and support tools work effectively and together.  It is also vital that our internal and external support arrangements for the new systems are fully exercised in an operational environment, rather than in the test environments we have used so far.

Over the next four weeks we will exercise the arrangements for introducing upgrades to the systems as well as the back up and failover capabilities.  All these things have been tested individually and have been demonstrated to work; now we need to ensure we can run and support the systems effectively and reliably for a month before we go-live with them.

Inevitably, we will find some things that are not quite right.  The acceptance period will allow us to identify those and correct them as if we were in production, enabling all aspects of operations and support and development to demonstrate effectiveness.  While we don’t expect everything to be plain sailing, we do not expect to find major problems; if we do then the go-live date (July 21st is our target) will be delayed.

A high level timeline of acceptance activities is set out below.  Importantly, there are opportunities for participants to trial elements of the new systems before they go live.  In addition, there will be specific invitations (in particular for members of the Constraints Public Forum) to visit  the System Operator’s co-ordination centers to see the acceptance operations and gain further insight of the new systems and changes affecting participants.  We expect to send these invitations out next week.

Test data site now available

Outputs from the new Market System [including the week ahead dispatch schedules (WDS)] being produced by the new system are being published on the COMIT test site. The site https://msp.electricitywits.co.nz requires a password and username which are available by calling the COMIT Help Desk on 0800 4 COMIT (0800 426 648).

We encourage market participants to review the test site.

What comes next?

SPD Audit.  The new systems include a recoded SPD, but the current version of RMT is unchanged. Our auditors have audited the new SPD and told us it meets specification.

1 July.  Our current schedule calls for a participant upload trial for two hours on Wednesday 1st July between 10:00 and 12:00. This is an opportunity for participants to test their upload facilities, including some negative testing. 

M-Co will be in touch with participants to confirm availability and timing of the test.
At two weeks to go-live.  In the last two weeks of acceptance testing we would like Constraints Publication Forum members (and their colleagues or nominees) to visit our offices (Wellington or Hamilton) to see and get a better understanding of the new systems.  We want the industry to understand what we have and share the confidence we have in the new systems. 

Barry Orme is developing an outline of the objectives and expectations for the visits.  Invitations will be sent out by the 3rd July.  If you have not received an invitation by or just after this date and would like to join in the exercise please contact us.

At 5 days to go-live.  In the last week of acceptance, we will commence running the systems 24 hours a day.  At the moment we are running only during normal business hours; we don’t not have enough co-ordination staff to run two systems 24 hours for more than a week.  Our Transpower IT support service needs to provide personnel to look after both systems and they also have resource limitations.  Moving to 24 hour running of the new systems will be a further signal the acceptance test are going well and go-live is close.

2 hours prior to go-live.  At two hours to go-live the System Operator will revert back to the offer-based merit order frequency keeper selection methodology used prior to 3rd June 2008.  This methodology will remain in place until changes can be made to the new systems later in 2009.  For more information please go to the following site: http://www.systemoperator.co.nz/frequency-keeper-selection

1 hour prior to go-live. Between 10:00 and 11:00 the NZX COMIT system will be temporarily unable to accept bids and offers.  During that time bids and offers will be submitted to the NXZ emergency upload facility.  During the 11:00 trading period transition to the new systems the current market systems will experience a period (around 25 minutes) of being unable to receive market bids and offers.  This is the same situation that occurs during an operational fail over of the current market systems and will be unseen and will not affect market participants.

Go-live

We will advise industry of the go-live date before the switch over occurs.  While we are targeting the 21st of July, that might change.  The final date will take account of successful acceptance testing as well as power system conditions on the day.  Go-live is likely to take place during the 11:00 trading period.  Trial cut-overs have been undertaken.  However, it will none the less be a tense time when, having decided to move, we actually start the process.  The cut-over is intended to occur wholly within one trading period.  Clear and firm criteria are established for System Operator management to decide when go-live will occur.

Immediately on go-live industry can (and should) commence providing bids and offers for 7 days ahead to enable us to populate the WDS with real bids and offers rather than rolled over offers.  The WDS schedule currently being published to the COMIT test system is using rolled over offers and will do so right up to go-live.

SFT and Automated Dispatch

The automated constraint development function of the new systems has been tested and is ready.  However, the full functionality will not be used initially and we will limit use of the capability to undertaking schedule security checking.  After the new systems have gone live we will establish a project to train our staff and get them used to the functionality, readying us and industry for introduction of automated constraint development into live schedule production.  It is unlikely that we will be live with SFT before the end of this year.

We will also not introduce our new automated dispatch functionality at go-live.  That capability will also go through additional operational testing after go-live and, subject to satisfactory trials, be introduced a few months afterwards

Variable Reserves and special winter schedule

A reminder: from go-live, the current variable reserves process and publication of the Special Winter Schedule will both cease.  System changes will be developed (along with the frequency keeper selection change) to restore current functionality as soon as practicable after go-live (realistically, later in 2009).  With regard to the SWS we are pursuing an interim option.

Changes in EM6

Changes to EM6 arising from the new systems should be relatively unseen by the user.  However, like COMIT, constraint and outage data will be published slightly differently. 

Questions?

For any additional information or to have questions answered please contact:

• Barry Orme | 021 583373 | barry.orme@transpower.co.nz
• Dan Twigg | 021 380 123 | dan.twigg@transpower.co.nz