RBAC’s GPCM Power Model Interface has been specifically designed to minimize the effort and maximize the flexibility for interfacing GPCM® Gas Market Simulation Systems™ to the leading North American Power Market Models (PMMs). Power market analysts have a chicken-and-egg dilemma: how can they provide their model with realistic fuel price forecasts to compute which plants will be dispatched and how much of each type of fuel will be used, when those prices depend in turn on the amount of each fuel used?
This dilemma is particularly important with regard to natural gas, since it has become the preferred fuel due to its abundance and low environmental impact compared to coal. Natural gas is also needed to fuel combined-cycle and other generation units required for grid stability as the global push for renewables continues to grow.
GPCM-PMI resolves this dilemma by providing an efficient means for two-way information flow between GPCM and the PMM. A gas price forecast from GPCM is provided directly to the PMM. It computes the implied fuel burns. The gas burns are fed back to GPCM which generates a revised price forecast. This forecast is then used by the PMM to calculate a revised fuel burn forecast. An elegant algorithm designed by RBAC assures that this iterative process leads efficiently to a consistent forecast for both the gas and the power markets.
In today’s market environment, one cannot produce realistic power market forecasts without considering the specifics of the gas market and one cannot produce realistic gas market forecasts without accounting for important factors in the power market. The challenge can be overcome by combining the industry standard GPCM gas market simulation system with industry standard power market models using RBAC’s Power Model Interface.
Special features of the GPCM-PMI include:
- A data map connecting more than 3,500 gas-fired units in the three major North American interconnects (Eastern, Western, and ERCOT) to GPCM entities representing power market gas demand in each geographic area of the United States, Canada, and Baja California, Mexico.
- A data mapping procedure which uniquely ties any new resource generated by the power market model to a specific GPCM customer-location entity.
- An algorithm for speeding convergence between GPCM and power market models currently used by electricity analysts and forecasters.
- Error-catching procedures designed to reduce or eliminate lost time due to data inconsistencies between the two models or within either one of them.
GPCM-PMI™ is available to any licensee of both GPCM® and Gas4Power® as well as power market models such as EnCompass®, Aurora®, PROMOD®, PLEXOS®, and GE-MAPS®.
SOURCE: 2015 December Compiled Presentations.pdf (nerc.com)
Implications
- Better & faster simulations or forecasts from both GPCM and the PMM.
- Better negotiating position due to deeper insights into possible future outcomes.
- Improved strategic planning to mitigate risks and capture opportunities.
- Increased efficiency in both gas and power fundamentals analysis.
PMI for G2M2
RBAC’s Power Model Interface has been designed to work efficiently with a variety of power market simulators. It also works with RBAC’s G2M2® Market Simulator for Global Gas and LNG™ linked to power plant database simulator for areas outside of North America. For example, RBAC teamed up with EPIS (now part of Energy Exemplar) to demonstrate how G2M2 and Aurora could work efficiently in simulating the future of the integrated European gas and power market.
For additional information please contact James Brooks at (281) 506-0588 ext. 126 or click here to contact.
