“We believe that Allegro ETRM, which can scale with the future growth of our business, offers a comprehensive natural gas solution which will enable a streamlined implementation and solid return on our investment. As PNG grows its asset base and our volumes increase, we need a fully integrated platform and tools that enable optimal decision making,”

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P.

ESS Connect PDF Print E-mail

Efficient power scheduling communication for European electricity markets

New legislation and the ongoing privatization of the European electricity markets are bringing new challenges to energy market participants. European power utilities must comply with region specific requirements and need to efficiently exchange power schedule information between balance groups and across country borders.  While a unified standard across Europe may be introduced in the future, data exchange based on European Transmission System Operator (ETSO) protocol can vary and other protocols exist. Allegro’s ESS Connect is designed to be flexible and allow users to customize and define ESS XML messages for transmittal to the ETSOs.

Using homegrown systems or Excel spreadsheets to manage the complexities of the data exchange can be a manual, time-consuming, and error-prone process. Utilities, merchant generation companies, retailers, power marketers and other organizations with balance or trade responsibilities in the European power market need an integrated software solution that streamlines the exchange of information, maintains necessary transaction detail and documentation, and ensures accuracy.


Product Overview

Allegro’s ESS Connect component creates outbound and receives inbound industry standard European ETSO Scheduling System (ESS) formatted messages. The component offers configuration capabilities that allow users to customize and define the ESS message format in order to communicate with any grid operator.  With ESS Connect, Allegro helps to ensure that Balance Responsible parties are satisfying their scheduling requirements.

Through ESS Connect, users can either directly interface with the European TSO portals or indirectly interface via Messaging Service vendors. The flexibility of ESS Connect allows customers to adapt to future changes in this evolving market, and fully supports market participants if they choose to enter new market territories.

Key Feature Key Benefit
Create and submit ESS Schedule Messages.

Eliminates potential of introducing errors inherent in external applications when querying and manipulating necessary positional data.

Ability to cancel or modify transmitted ESS Schedule Messages.

Allows a user to quickly and easily cancel and modify a submitted ESS Schedule Message if an error in positional data is recognized.

Supports TSO validation at the Document, Time Series, and Grid Security levels.

 Eliminates manual effort to accommodate any TSO validation.  Allegro handles both the acknowledgement and rejection messages from the Document level validation, manages the Anomaly messages from the Time Series level, and the Confirmation messages at the Grid Security level.

Ability to verify completeness of the Day Ahead schedule.

 Offers management the ability to ensure that all intended power position data items are included in the submitted schedule message. This enables verification that all last-minute user edits to interval volumes are accounted for.  ESSConnect offers a unique view that prevents “orphan” positions from going unreported.

Ability to compare confirmed quantities to net positions and adjust the underlying trade positions to synchronize with TSO-approved quantities.

A streamlined process of allocating the TSO-approved net position to the underlying Allegro power positions if the TSO imposes a time series on the market entity or approves a different interval volume than what the market entity nominated to the TSO.

Flexible technology that allows users to define the message format.

Allows communication with any grid without requiring new software or software extensions.

Component will remain compatible with the latest changes to the ENTSO-E standard ESS specification and code lists.

Frees users from the cost and effort in remaining compliant for each TSO in which they operate.