2004 IEEWPES Transmission & Distribution Conference 8 Exposition: Latin America
Integrated Information Systems and Real Time
Control for Interconnected Electricity Regional
Markets
R. Ckspedes, D.Chceres, M. TBllez, KEMA Consulting
A. Bustamante, Interconexidn Elictrica S.A. - ISA
Abstract-Six countries in Central Amedca and Panama are
working together in the SIEPAC project to create an electricity
market and to build the first regional interconnection line in
Central America, reinforcing the already existing country to
country interconnections. The project includes the development
of a regional transmission system and the formation and gradual
growth of a competitive electricity market.
The regional market (MER) will work on top of the national
markets and will be governed by a single set of market rules; a
regional regulatory agency and a regional market operating en-
tity have been created for it.
This paper presents an overview of the Real Time platform
which is being implemented and wili provide the system monitor-
ing of the Regional generation and transmission resources and
their efficient coordination. The Information System for the
SIEPAC regional electricity market integrated by various Sys-
tems that are planned for supporting the models and tools that
will be available for the Central America Interconnected Re-
gional Market operation are also presented. These works are
under development for the SIEPAC Project coordinated by the
Executive Unit with headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica. The
main systems designed are presented along with their character-
istics illustrating the main guidelines foIlowed during the project
development.
Index Terms-Regional Markets - Electricity Market - Real-
time control systems - IT Systems - Power System Interconnec-
tion - SIEPAC - Central America.
I. IITRODUCTION
S ix countries are working together in the SIEPAC project to
create an electricity market and to build the fmt regional
interconnection line in Central America, reinforcing the al-
ready existing country to country interconnections. The PTO-
ject includes the development of a regional transmission sys-
tem and the formation and gradual growth of a competitive
electricity market. The regional market (MER) will work on
top of the six national markets and will be governed by a sin-
gle set of market rules; a regional regulatory agency and a
regional market operatingentity that have been created for it.
The conceptual model proposed for the Regional Electric-
ity Market (MER), object of the SIEPAC project, consists in
the composing of a “seventh market” operating jointly with
the six existing markets or national systems, with independent
rules and interconnected only in the interchange points de-
fined as boundaries, between national markets and regional
market by the Regional Transmission Grid (RTR as known in
Spanish). To compose the Market the following aspects are
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E. Calderbn,Executive Unit - SIEPAC Pruject
established
Contracts market (regional engagements).
Short-term market (spot market), where regional re-
sources are optimized along with auxiliary services
market for such services that could be open to chal-
lenge, or regulated for such that could not be submit-
ted to challenge.
The regional transmission grid (RTR) is first composed by
transmission lines belonging to the existing transmission com-
panies in Central America. Afterwards the Regional level
transmission projects will complement the RTR that will also
be under supervision of the Regional Entity Operator @OR).
The market operator @OR) will be responsible for techni-
cal and commercial operations of the regional market. This
paper describes the Regional Information Systems @IS) re-
quired for supporting the complete set of EOR functions. Ex-
amples of these R E are the SCADA/EMS, the Metering Sys-
tem, the Settlement System, the Market Agent’s Information
Support Services and so forth. EOR will develop and adminis-
ter a regional database that will contain all the necessary in-
formation for its fimctions fulfillment and besides an adequate
regional market description to send report to interested ones.
System Owntion Functions
System Operation encompasses the following functions:
Pre-ODeration: preparation of operation rules, instructions,
and schedules containing the methods, criteria, procedures,
and indicators for performing the system operation.
Real Time Operation: coordination, supervision, and codtrol
of all operating process of hydraulic, energy and electric sys-
tems, performed in real time, h m which decisions are taken.
The various utilities consequently receive instructions to per-
form operations and switching actions on facilities.
Post-ODmtion: analvsis, evaluation and statistics of the after-
the fact operation and of the results obtained, in order to feed-
back all operating process and disseminate the results to all
participating Agents.
MER operation will be performed through the Operations
ControI Centers, under EORs coordination. In consequence,
the following control center will take part in the regional mar-
ket operation:
EOR Control Center.
Control Center of the Line Owner Company (EPR)-
371

pending of definition.
National OS&Ms Control Centers and through them
the Transmission Companies of the Regional Grid,
except when the OS&Ms delegate such function to
one control center of the transmission company.
OS&Ms and EPR will be equipped with bidirectional data
links with the EOR Control Center, in order to provide the real (MID).SIIM includes all the systems that support the neces-
time information established in the corresponding regulations. sary processes for MER technical and commercial operation,
11. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS DEFINMTON GENERALCRI’ERIA
A system is defined as: “the set of hardware and also soft- systems, which are commercially available applications and
ware that allows performing a certain process by the support are integrated to the SIIM through other mechanisms.
of applications (tools), databases and models”. It is important
to highright that all the systems belonging to the MER Inte-
grated Information System ( S I N shall give response to all
observed needs for the technical and commercial operation
development of the MER and its future developments guaran-
teeing the following aspects:
0 Modularity and Scalability: Intended to avoid sys-
tems’ obsolescence by means of a strategy develop-
ing modularly the required set of applications.
Flexibility: Intended to “ize implementation
risks. When the system is handled in modules the
gradua1 development and specific requirements with
measurable performance are easily obtained. Some
applications could be purchased by adapting com-
mercially available products.
WDgradeability: Tt shall incorporate all the mecha-
nisms that allow minimizing the impact of the sys-
tem continuous upgrade. Designing systems inde-
pendent of the platform and architecture, which
make practical the process of systems upgrading dur-
ing time, while the market rules evolve.
With a suitable technological platform and architecture a
scalable and upgradeable design can be established.
m. MAFXET INTEGRATED I N F O W T I O N SYSTEM (sw
According to the defined EOR’s responsibilities the several
processes which have to be supported by systems have been
identified. Figure 1 shows a high level overview, presenting
the major systems, the databases and initial and future fore-
seen applications.
In this figure the arrows depicts interfaces among systems
or applications, which normally involve information flow in
the direction indicated by the mows themselves and activa-
tion mechanisms of programs among other functionality.
Fig. 1 System required by EOR
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2
The systems shown are under development stage and thus
the figure is for example purposes only. The set ofsystems are
also known as MER Integrated Information System (SITM).
The detailed design of the regional market has defined the
SIIM which main component is the Integrated Data Model
which fulfills the criteria of being closely integrated with the
Data Integrated Model (MID). SrIM excludes the extemal
The main objectives of the SIM are:
Attention to the needs of the different users’ groups,
assuring an adequate performance.
Adequate Security mechanisms. Secure integration
of the extemal systems through suitable means, in-
cluding firewalls and other devices and applications.
Traffic split by using severai physical and/or virtual
networks.
As a baseline: computing equipment available of a
well known supplier With support in the EOR’s
headquarter country with upgrades possibility and
continuous development of its products.
Hardwarelsoftware integrated configuration with ex-
pansion possibility: quick and flexible adaptation to
the need and sizing of the MER and its agents.
Fulfillment of the response times and availability re-
quirements.
Low cost configuration.
CompIete and Clear System documentation.
Technology Transfer: MID software and applica-
tions shall be written in a high-level Ianguage as
well as transferring know-how to EOR.
IV. DATAINTEGRATEDMODELMID)
The MID is a central repository where, by means of inte-
gration mechanisms, a unified working environment is
achieved. The SIIM has a multi-layer design in which the
lower layer corresponds to commercially available database
engine. Higher layers implement the MID as an intermediate
layer between applications and data. MID central repository
facilitates the maintenance and administration of all the sys-
tem. For those commercially available tools that have their
own data model, the need of interface mechanisms by means
of Connection Services is foreseen, as explained herein afier.
The MID is made up of the following subsystems:
Database: a commercial database that serves as a
data repository.
Basic Integration Services: set of components alIow-
ing model the elements required by the applications
and the set of tools that connect these components to
the database.
Administration and Maintenance: applications re-
quired by the integrated system for its own adrmni-
372
 3

stration and maintenance. o Amlication Level audit: Shall be directly ori-

Connection Services: services that allow the connec- ented to business rules and the purpose is track-
tion of external systems to the MID, ing user actions within a process.
The previous approach allows supporting all databases o Inhstructure Level audit: Oriented to supervise
identified for SIEPAC in the general MER design, without the inhstructure suitable operation and detect secu-
limitations of information consistency or maintenance difficul- rity threats. Such audit level is MID responsibil-
ties due to the implementation of particular databases for each ity.
application. Figure 2 depicts the main elements or software
layers on which are the base of MID design. V. REAL TIME SCADAEMS SYSTEM
The MID database will be populated with information sub- This system includes commercially available hardware and
mitted by the National SystemlMarket Operators (OS&M) software considered a single tool, knows as SCADA and the
automatically, if possible, fiom their own databases. The in- corresponding applications for network aualysis contained in
formation will be comprised by: an Energy Management System (EMS). All gathered informa-
Generation physical data. tion of the elecbical system operation is stored in the SCADA
Maintenance plans. historical database (HIS), which shall be accessed fiom other
MERcontracts. modules of other processes, including MID.
Demanddata. To fulfill operative, functional and economic requirements,
Transmission network lines and substations status the following objectives for the SCADAlEMS in the initial
data, detailed enough to enable carrying out load stage of EOR operation are defined
flow, short-circuit and stability electrical studies. 0 It will be based on available computing equipment
Information resulting fiom commercial transactions. fiom a well known supplier, with a proven record of
Other identified by the regulations. continuous and compatible upgrades of its products.
0 The integrated configuration of hardware and soft-
ware will have the possibility of being expanded,
adding new computers to the system, for a fast and
I ! Gmrnl P Y I ~ O I ~ tooh brobbcb sell
flexible data migration between the system compo-
nents.

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It will fulfill the specified response time and avail-
m d c o n n m c ~ nmechmlim.
unintawn ability requirements, by maximizing the efficiency
1 ~ t . I I n O g i i e m h h. data b v o l m 4
and reliability of the electrical system operation un-
ldormitbn mhimum redvndilicy
der EOR coordination.
Computing equipment shall be the most recent re-
Fig,2 Applications architecture and MID
lease and architecture available at the time of instal-
MID Securitv lation.
The security level shall defme the mechanisms to guarantee Software shall fulfill formal standards and "de facto"
system integrity and access control to MID resources. The requirements of open systems architecture.
security system is an information system independent of the This initial system will consist on the following main func-
MID itself, allowing to reach a higher level isolation of MER tional components: Energy Control System (ECS), Informa-
information systems thus giving more security and flexibility tion Storage & Retrieval System (IS&R), User Interface and
for systems configuration. Development System @S).
To guarantee security of MER Information Systems the fol- Figure 3 presents schematically the main components of
lowing criteria shall be hlfilled: the initial system, defined next:
Users Authentication: Is one of the main security Redundant ECS servers: will execute SCADA and
modules, since it verifies user information by means network analysis functions, real t h e database man-
of using ID names and passwords. agement, coordination to other processors and real-
Authorization: Once the user has been authenticated, ize most of the computational tasks that have an in-
the authorization module shall allocate and control tense computer load.
MID resources access to the user, depending of the Redundant IS&R servers: will manage the historical
role. database and will be the interface with EOR corpo-
Critical data motection: Sensitive information rate network. SCADA relational database and dis-
streaming through public networks shall be protected turbances data files will also be maintained by these
through mechanisms avoidmg access to information, servers.
for instance, SSL for information encrypting. Redundant communication servers: will allow data
m:MER Information Systems Audit shall be and messages exchange directly with the national
control centers, data concentrators and EOR corpo-
split in two (2) separate schemes:

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 4

rate network, including devices such as communica- change among authorized users, time, contents, formats, trans-
tion interfaces, gateways, routas, switches and oiher action
equipment. logging, security and others have to be taken into account.
Web server: will allow accessing of the national con- Due to the special market rules and possible adjustment of
trol centers and authorized users to system data and these rules during time, a system specifically developed for
the manual entry of data. the SIIM is preferred rather than commercially available soft-
DNS server and electronic mail: support internet ser- ware.
vices and EOR mail services. The SSI selected approach hats any transaction for the
information exchange in a similar way with the purpose of
VI. EXAMPLE OF A SYSTEM "CLOSELY" INTEGRATED TO THE implementing formally the exchange processes, so that the
- INFORMAnON SERVICES SYSTEM (SSI) MER counts on standard mechanisms for a11 the agents to get
The Systems Integrated to MID are those that due to the a transparent management (any transaction must be auditable)
own characteristics of MER must be specified and build ac- and a standard way of interaction.
cording to MER rules. Closer integration with the MID is SSI has a general set of services allowing the remaining
recommended for this type of systems, taking advantage of all systems to develop their tasks, supporting among other tasks:
the potential and functionalitythat MID offers. information transactions, MER statistics, RTR statistics, and
One example of a System Integrated to MID is the Infor- information gathering via Internet, Web publication, HTML
mation Services System (SSI). All the functionality required services and XML services for remote applications
for the organized and structured information exchange with all
the agents and MER entities is assigned to this module, To
this end the operation rules established for information inter-
I- -;Tr -- - -- 1 I- -b, -----1

lnckided in
SCAOA SUDD~V

I 'Firewa

Fig. 3 Initial SCADAEMS

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WI.EXAMPLEOF EXTERNAL SYS'IEM TO SIM - REGIONAL
INDICATIVE OPERATION SYSTEM(SPOIR)
The external system are not closely integrated to the MZD,
but they support MER processes using directly the MID data-
base, but rather are integrated to the SIM through interfaces
allowing an adequate performance without incurring in exces-
sive developments or substantial modifications to commer-
cially available software.
Figure 4 shows a possible implementation of the Regional
Indicative Operation Planning System (SPOIR) as an example
of the SITM connection with external systems. This figure
presents schematically that the design of external systems tries
to keep the external systems, without modifications, to avoid
unnecessary adaptations to the SIIM environment and exIra
costs for the project. It is expected that several of these inter-
faces can be developed using XML, "de facto" standard to
develop interfaces between different systems.
The operations planning of the regional generation and
transmission resoutces includes medium and long term predic-
tions that wil1 be used as guidelines of the expected future
behavior of the MER This pfanning shall also consider the
lines and equipment maintenance program of the RTR defin-
ing the equipment that is entered or removed from operations.
The operation planning integrates elechical and energy
analyses for different scenarios and the time horizons, with the
purpose of providing information corresponding to energy
balance of the regional system and the conditions of the re-
gional network, as well as its potentiaf impact in the MER
commercial transactions.
Fig. 4 SPOIR possible implementation
WII. ELEMENTS
OF THE SIIM DESIGN
Alike for other systems (i.e. real time system), a set of de-
sign elements have been defined for the SIIM; the main as-
pects are:
Expansion characteristics
Servers: minimum two (2) processors. Growth Re-
serve at least 50% for processors number.
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Main memory: each memory expandable at least two
(2) times the initially installed capacity. On site ex-
pansion capability is required.
Massive memory: each memory expandable at least
three (3) times the initially installed capacity. On
site and using the same power soutces of the initially
provided computers.
Addition of the number of servers and/or worksta-
tions shall be minimum 50%, without mohfication
of the elements that support the network LANK
Avuilabilitv
Availability of essential components (which main-
tain the SIIM critical functions active) ? 99.9%. This
means, total downtime or annual faults lasting less
than an accumulated value of 8 hours 46 minutes.
The number of annual faults shall be less than 40.
SUM Critical functions for the availability calcula-
tions are defied as follows:
o MID administration and maintenance func-
tions
o ME) data base functions
o SIIM functions closely integrated to the
MID
Please note that the previous definitions do not include the
real time system given that it is considered a mission critical
system with its own set of critical functions and availability
requirements.
IX. CONCLUDINGREMARKS
This paper summarizes the main components of the SIIM
and real time systems that have been designed for the MER
operation. With the presented design the objective of provid-
ing suitable tools to EOR and in general MER agents for the
MER operation in agreement with the Regional Regulation, is
achieved. This design avoids the application developer the
need to define and develop actual procedures to directly ac-
cess data via for instance SQL language or to write results
drrectly into the database. In this form the application layer
interacts with the MID and not with the database providing for
a flexible adaptation to the MER needs.
It is expected that the approach presented would be benefi-
cial to entities that face the problem of integrating several Re-
gional Information Systems at once, some are commercially
available and some shall be customized. The SIIM design pre-
sented minimizes interfacing problems with legacy software
systems while also avoiding as practically as possible data
duplication. The use of industry or de facto standards for the
software platform is enforced in the design with the intent to
provide an open solution as possible both for hardware and
software. It is highlighted that the use of WEB services will be
essential for the development, using suitable media to support
both local and remote agents with the information and or data
transfer needs.
Acknowledgment: the authors thank the SIEPAC Project
Executive Unit and the Inter American Development Bank
(IDB) who is financing this Project, for their support during
the works of the design and implementation of the various
systems presented in this paper.

X. REFERENCES
[l] ‘Tegional electricity market technical and commercial operating rules”,
SEPAC-KEMA Consulting- ISA, August 2003
[Z] ‘Regional electricity market detailed design report”, KEMA Consulting
- ISA, June 2003.
[3] ‘TOR Models, Tmls and Data Bases Diagnostic report”, KEMA Con-
sulting - ISA, September2002.
[4] R CPspedes, D. Ckeres, “Electric Dispatching in the Free Market of
Latin America”,Latin America Power ’98, Bueuos Aires (Argenlina),
Jdy 1998
[SI R C&pedes et all, "implementation of a Modern Real-Time Operating
infrastructure for Supporting the Open Markel in Brazil, IEEE PICA
2001, Sydney Australia.

XI. BIOGRAPHIES
Renato C6spedes received his Doctor of Engineering of the Polytech-
nique Institute o f Grenoble in France. Dr. Uspedes is Senior Principal Con-
sultant of KEMA Consulting since 1991 and head of the Latin America office
located in Bog& Colombia. He bas participated in a number of control cen-
ter projects and power system related studies in Europe, Latin America and
Asia. Dr. C w d e s is Senior Member of IEEE and has published various
papers in internationalpublications.
David Ciceres is a Principal Consultant of KEMA Consulting, Pennsyl-
vania (USA) ofice since 1995 who worked and lived in Brazil for ten years
before. He graduated from the Engineering National University 0 , Lima
(Per$ in 1974, and since then has participated in several control center, hydro
power plant and substation automation, and commanications projects all over
Lath America, USA, Spain, Canada, hdia and Vietnam Mr. aceres has
published a variety of SCADA/EMS papen in conferences and magazines.
Albert0 Burtamante Matiz has a Bs in Electrical Engineering and an MS
in Computer Science both from the University Nacional of Colombia He has
been working with the National control Center (CND)of hterconexih Elec-
trim ISA since 1981. la that position he has been responsible for developing
solutions to support several processes of the CND.He was working with the
CECI Iustitute of MIT in the Niagara Project for developing tools for multi-
media distributed envbnments. Recently Mr. Bustamante has been develop-
ing the Integrated Data Model (MID)which has been applied successfully by
ISA and is a basic concept for the SIEPAC Project.
Edgardo Alfred0 Calder6n has a Bs in Electrical Engineering and Spe-
cialist in Economic Energy. He has been working in the Salvadorian Electrical
sector. Recently Mr. Calder6n bas been working with Unidad Ejecutora
SlEPAC Project as Economic Advisor.

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