The energy industry is fundamentally changing, and the Lancelot information system for energy traders developed by Unicorn Systems is changing with it. These days call for a modular software framework that allows custom product solutions to be made for varying market participants.
From today’s viewpoint, the world used to be quite simple. Now, much has changed in the energy industry, with many more changes yet to come. The once small number of large, stable, and well-managed power plants is now joined by plenty of smaller sources, especially renewables (RES), such as photovoltaics and windmills. Their basic property of being ‘emissions-free’ is much sought-after today, but it comes with inherent production variability dependent on the weather. And the result is a decentralised production.
The more the industry changes, so too changes the once clear distinction between producer and consumer. Energy no longer flows from only one to the other, because the producer is more and more becoming the distributor, in great part thanks to solar energy plants. There are also many more entities in the market today as well as new chain links, such as those focusing on energy accumulation, performance balancing, and, most recently, energy communities.
The roles and behaviours of individual players are also changing and the lines between them are blurring. For instance, distribution companies used to have their primary business clearly lined out; they built the network, used it to cover a specific area, and collected set fees for doing so. They could quite easily calculate where it was worth expanding, how much they could charge for it, and how much income they’d receive. Today, a portion of clients have their own photovoltaics and they only draw from the network a few hours each day, or they do the opposite by actually adding energy to the network. And more and more are interested in connecting their own source.
On the other hand, we now have electric cars on the streets, whose charging represents a fundamental quantity in energy balances. In a simplified solution, a few fast chargers can literally leech out the outlet of a large administrative building. Distributors have to start thinking more about how they sell their services so they’re still financially viable, while also scheduling and building a network that can handle these new challenges. To achieve this, they have to be able to better forecast the behaviours of the entire framework. Thus, in principle, many demanding tasks stand before them, requiring them to adjust for a greater number of variables. And this applies to other industry players as well.
‘No’ to big products and custom development
Because the overall energy market is noticeably more complicated, its participants need more sophisticated information systems. Luckily, advances in technology are keeping pace both with the energy industry and information technology. We’re able to measure, process, and assess significantly more data and provide forecasts accordingly. And this can all be done much quicker than in years past. It’s made possible thanks to our computing power, data storages, the cloud (which allows for scalable solutions), and the ever-more useful AI.
We also understand the changing needs of energy market participants. Today’s traders no longer request only an ETRM system but also more predictions – production in one case, and consumption in another. They also benefit from trade modules, but since they operate under and share part of their processes with a foreign parent company, they’ll no longer use a large risk module. Agendas are simply much more diverse and also liable to change. Companies in the energy sector aren’t interested in large, standardised products that don’t correspond to their needs in every way. However, developing a custom solution is also ineffective for them. Their people are too busy with other work to explain to developers everything they’re doing, how it works, and what to expect from the information system every three years or so.
At Unicorn Systems, we believe that a product solution is the ideal path, i.e., something that’s already finished and doesn’t require lengthy development. Yet, it’s also adjustable to varying individual requirements thanks to its modular architecture. In other words, a framework allowing everyone to assemble the pieces they need. This is what we’re aiming for with our energy market solution Lancelot. The client only needs to come to us and say “I need to forecast the consumption of my customer portfolio, photovoltaic production, simple commercial records, and a connection to the short-term markets.” We’ll then assemble the solution from our premade modules, launch it within the client’s system, train their employees, and they can quickly start working on their own.
At the same time, it’s crucial we stay in close contact with the client to stay up to date on their needs. We know from experience that the flow of information from traders to business architects to production teams typically fails. For starters, it’s too slow and the developers quickly fall behind. Secondly, too many links in the chain cause unpleasantly large misrepresentations and the resulting products then more or less miss the needs of the market.
Our opinion is that it’s much more effective to always dedicate a production team to the specific business area in which its members directly maintain close contact in practice – with its customers, at conferences, within work groups creating legislature. This approach lets them know what is coming from the regulation side while simultaneously providing relevant information on which solutions would be welcomed by customers. We can then very qualifiedly evaluate where to direct our development.
As previously stated, the energy market is changing. And we must tailor our approach to its needs, preferably before these needs even occur.
