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SPOKANE, Wash., Dec. 15, 2003 -- Itron Inc. announced that it has reached an agreement with Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC), in Virginia, to provide ODEC with a system for developing hourly same-day, next-day, and week-ahead energy forecasts by member cooperative and by power supplier.
The ability to create and deliver accurate and timely load forecasts to its bulk power supplier is a new business requirement for ODEC, brought on by regulatory and market change in Virginia.
ODEC is a wholesale electricity supplier to 12 member cooperatives in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. In 2002, changes in its power supply portfolio caused ODEC to review its energy management system and consider how data is exchanged with ODEC's bulk power marketer, ACES Power Marketing (ACES). ODEC concluded that its generation and power purchases needed to match actual load requirements more precisely, which would require timely load data and accurate forecasts. ODEC turned to Itron to meet those needs.
Itron will develop and deliver a load forecasting system based on its MetrixIDR and NDAuto software products. MetrixIDR is designed to operate in real-time mode for the continuous forecasting of loads using data from one or more interval data recorders. NDAuto enables users to review forecasts, make adjustments where necessary, and publish same-day, next day, and coming week hourly load forecasts.
ODEC's automated load forecasting system will receive five-minute load data gathered through its supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system from over 200 widely-separated delivery points. The forecasting system will match loads to local weather data, and use advanced econometric modeling techniques to create hourly forecasts aggregated by member cooperative and by power supplier. ODEC will provide ACES with on-line access to allow forecasts to be reviewed and published. A web interface will be available to allow viewing of results by users even when away from the office.
The load forecasting system is the second key component of a two-phase project undertaken by Itron to help ODEC meet new business process requirements. In the first phase Itron delivered an advanced meter data verification and estimation system (MVES) that collects unedited "tele-metered" delivery point load data from ODEC's delivery system. The MVES system uses a modeling process, based on Itron's market leading MetrixND software, to develop load estimates and ranges, which are updated hourly. When delivery point loads are found to be missing or outside of the ranges, the highly accurate MVES load estimates are substituted. The cleaned load outputs from the MVES system will serve as the inputs to the new hourly load forecasting system. The MVES project was described as "an overwhelming success" in a recent article about the system, published in the October 2003 issue of Transmission & Distribution World.
By combining the new load forecasting system with MVES, ODEC will have a complete, end-to-end forecasting solution, which starts with raw load data tele-metered from more than 200 delivery points, and ends with precise hourly forecasts that will power purchases for ODEC's member cooperatives.
"By applying Itron's data management and forecasting knowledge, we can provide timely and accurate power purchases for our member cooperatives," said Daryl Jaschen, Director of Management Information Systems at ODEC. "This capability is critical to reduce the inherent risk associated with wholesale power purchasing and helps ensure strong ongoing financial performance for our member owners. We've worked closely with Itron to help identify our business needs and Itron responded with a load forecasting system that turns raw load data into timely information."
Stuart McMenamin, Itron's vice president of forecasting solutions, says inaccurate load forecasting costs utilities and their customers far too much money to be acceptable in today's business market.
"By working closely with ODEC, we are taking very good forecasting tools and adapting them to more closely align with the real-time decision needs of ODEC and its bulk power marketer, ACES," said McMenamin. "This is how a good business partnership in today's energy marketplace operates."
About Itron
Itron is a technology provider and critical source of knowledge to the global energy and water industries. More than 2,800 utilities worldwide rely on Itron technology to deliver the knowledge they require to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water. Itron delivers value to its clients by providing industry-leading solutions for meter data collection, energy information management, demand side management and response, load forecasting, analysis and consulting services, transmission and distribution system design and optimization, web-based workforce automation, C&I customer care and residential energy management. For more knowledge to shape your future: www.itron.com.
About ODEC
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative Old Dominion is a wholesale power supplier to 12 locally owned and locally controlled electric distribution cooperatives. These local cooperatives, in turn, serve nearly a half million homes and businesses in some of the fastest-growing areas of the Mid-Atlantic. ODEC's member cooperatives cover about a third of the landmass of Virginia and 80 percent of the Delmarva Peninsula. Individual residences in rural areas and emerging suburbs account for over 90 percent of ODEC's customers. To know more: www.odec.com.
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