Integrated decision support system for ABT

Market deregulation and unbundling of monolithic utility organizations makes the energy market complex and dynamic. To be successful in such a market requires a participant to be flexible and adaptive to varying situations. Managing a complex array of possibilities to ensure that revenues are maximized and obligations (social, economic, political and operational) are met requires an integrated energy management approach. Decisions need to be made in very short time frames (approximately one hour or even less). Operational guidelines and parameters need to be flexible. To facilitate all of these, an integrated architecture based on prevailing open standards is considered in this paper. Top-level solution architecture, possible integration mechanisms between components and entities, as well as issues that need to be considered are discussed. Sample operational scenarios are illustrated to make the points in discussion more clear. Conclusions include current state of technology available as well as the critical gaps that need to be bridged to make this optimal infrastructure possible