Infolite dashboard

Our software solutions

Operating for over 20 years, HARD software has the unparalleled experience of developing the market, trading and operations software you need to maximise market revenues and mitigate all of the compliance and financial risks for renewable generators.

Infolite - Renewable generation management

HARD software’s Infolite Intermittent Generation Management System combines all the essential trading and market systems for operating a semi-dispatched generator in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM).

Infolite is a proven and reliable system that is the market leading application for intermittent generators operating in the Australian NEM

Learn about Infolite

ESM - Energy storage management systems

Manage, and execute your utility scale battery storage trading, operational process and status from easily and efficiently, from any device, whilst maximising the value of your investment.

Automate National Energy Market energy offer creation, submission and resubmission, acknowledgement matching, market data extraction functions, logging, error handling and reporting.

Learn about storage solutions

Infolite Auto Bidding module

HARD software has now released the Infolite Auto Bidding module providing for the automatic trading of renewable generation in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM).

The Auto Bidding module submits NEM market offers automatically, using all the available market data combined with the Infolite SCADA data, in conjunction with a comprehensive set of plant custom business rules to efficiently arrive at the optimal trading position for each market dispatch interval.

Learn about Autobidder

Infolite market data

The Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) runs on large amounts of data and participants in the market have access to their own dispatch outcomes, market states and historical data for all providers after the current day of operation. Access to timely current data is very important to our renewable generator customers to ensure that they respond quickly to market curtailments, react to significant market events and are able to historically analyse their performance with respect to other competitors.

Complete AEMO MMS database

Infolite includes a full SQL relational database system and the managed infrastructure to load and store all of the market data required by the customer. A full web based query system is also supplied, in addition to allowing the customer to connect to the MMS database using any analysis tools such as Excel or Tableau.

Management reporting

Infolite has a complete suite of standard management reports that are automatically generated and emailed to our customers, including daily revenue estimate, meter reconciliation, competitive performance and generation history reports. Bespoke reports can be run using the same reporting infrastructure for any data based needs that are specified by our customers.

Infolite market dispatch

Managing a renewable generator semi-dispatch cap reliably is the most critical task that a renewable generator must implement in the Australian NEM to ensure that the generator complies with the dispatch instructions from AEMO.

The Infolite system is a proven and industry standard solution that complies with all of the AEMO registration and market participation requirements and provides the software systems that generators need to operate, understand and deliver maximum generation and revenues resulting from their dispatch in the NEM.

Management of semi-dispatch cap compliance

Infolite provides a fully AEMO compliant market dispatch infrastructure to reliably communicate the semi-dispatch cap, FCAS enablements and other electrical market constraints to the renewable generator's SCADA system. Infolite also reads the critical plant state and operating conditions into the Infolite database system so that the operator of the plant can ensure that they are maximising their revenue and are protected against losses due to adverse market conditions.

Market generation dashboard

It is not enough that a renewable generator SCADA limits their plant's generation when they receive a sem-dispatch cap. The generator needs to know when they receive a cap, why they received the cap and also if they need to change their market offer or other actions to ensure that revenue is not reduced or generation is unnecessarily lost. Infolite has email or message alerts to notify customer personnel when any market event occurs such as receiving a semi-dispatch cap. Infolite provides a powerful and effective dynamic web dashboard for the generator so that all stakeholders can quickly monitor market outcomes, revenue projections and weather conditions without access to or the knowledge of how to use a proprietary SCADA system.

Energy storage management

Utility scale storage solutions are the missing component of the NEM that would enable high levels of renewable generation in a stable and robust electrical system. Australia is leading the world with the wide spread implementation of large utility scale battery installations and determining how these batteries can be effectively and economically integrated into the NEM.

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are dispatched rather than semi-dispatched generators in the NEM when they are greater than 5 MW and can provide energy storage as well as provide contingency and regulation Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) and potentially other contracted services.

Optimised battery systems

A number of battery manufacturers and third parties have developed single plant and portfolio optimisations that can provide the day to day energy and ancillary service offers for the running of a BESS efficiently in the NEM. HARD software has developed an industry standard WEB API and associated web based trading systems that allow for optimised offers to be submitted to the market for each dispatch interval, provides monitoring of the offer process and dispatch outcomes and the ability to temporarily suspend automated offers and use a set of templates to respond to market events or AEMO directions.

Plant controlled battery systems

Smaller BESS installations may not need the sophistication and higher levels of investment that are required for a fully optimised energy and FCAS BESS solution. HARD software has developed a simple business rule based system, using the same WEB API interface as the more sophisticated optimised systems, for small BESS plants that can automate the operations of the BESS whilst considering the relevant market conditions and allow the system to adapt offers to capitalise on favourable market events. A simple web based interface is provided that provides the operations and trading staff the ability to monitor operations and swicth to manual trading when required.

Infolite Auto Bidding module

The Infolite Auto Bidding module further extends the available Infolite functionality and implements automatic trading of renewable generation in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM). The Auto Bidding module submits NEM market offers automatically using all the available market data combined with the Infolite SCADA data, in conjunction with a comprehensive set of plant custom business rules and a rigorous mathematical revenue optimisation, to efficiently arrive at the optimal trading position for each market dispatch interval.

The Auto Bidding module uses sophisticated machine learning algorithms, constantly recalculating a position in the market at every five-minute Dispatch Interval and determines if the current position of the generator in the market is optimal. If not, the Auto Bidding module will automatically rebid to a new market position, with an associated detailed and compliant rebid explanation and contemporaneous record.

Auto Bidding interface

The Auto Bidding module user interface forms part of the Infolite graphical user interface. User access is provided via Single Sign On (SSO), with role-based permissions able to be configured and set independently for all of the Infolite user interface components. The Auto Bidding module uses the existing Infolite reporting framework allowing for the setup and configuration of automated reporting in a range of report output formats including Excel, csv and pdf. A set of supporting reports specific to bidding and trading are provided as standard.

Infolite Auto Bidding module uses the existing Infolite Alerts framework to deliver instant alerts to your phone, tablet or desktop instant messaging application, to your email or via SMS. Alerts can be tailored for each individual user, selecting the specific alerts that they are interested in receiving and the trigger values for each alert. The Auto Bidding module user interface includes all of the capabilities to enable the quick and effortless submission of templated manual bids.


Auto Bidding benefits and value

As distinct from optimisation platforms that have been adapted from other energy markets with very different designs or other applications such as portfolio optimisation, FCAS co-optimisation or BESS operations, the Infolite Auto Bidding module is specifically designed for the requirements of Variable Renewable Energy generators (VREs) operating in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM).

The frequency of the occurrence of sustained periods of negative wholesale prices continues to increase in the NEM as the levels of renewable generation increase, especially domestic and utility scale solar generation. The Infolite Auto Bidding module minimises a generator to the risks associated with negative prices and other market events by automatically updating the generator's market offer in accordance with the outcome of the revenue optimization, ensuring that the plant is not generating when economically disadvantages.

The Auto Bidding module considers the cost of generation from FCAS raise contingency service liabilities, as well as the other financial variables relevant to the specific plant such as LGC price, PPA strike price and escalations as part of its revenue analysis. It is highly adaptable and can accommodate the specific business rules, trading and PPA considerations for any generator in the market.

Infolite market availability

Every renewable generator in the Australian NEM is required to submit any changes of availability to AEMO when their production capabilities changes by 6 MW or more. Availability changes within 7 days are required to be entered to the nearest half hour and planned outages for up to the next two years are entered for the entire day.

The Infolite software includes a visual drag and drop submission system designed specifically to meet the needs of renewable generators in the NEM to provide quick and simple availability submissions to AEMO.

Graphical availability user interface

The Infolite availability system uses a graphical GANTT style user interface where plant limits and turbine or inverter availabilities can be quickly entered individually or as a collector group or section. Adjustments can be made by selecting and dragging any outage to a new time or extending or reducing the length of time for an outage by dragging the end of the outage bar. Availabilities can then be submitted to AEMO by clicking a single button. No more laboriously adding up numbers of turbines or inverters and wrestling with the AEMO default submission system.

Distributed availability workflows

The Infolite availability system allows the separate functions of availability submission to be split between different sets of users. A common workflow is for staff on site to enter in the outages into the availability system, and other staff such as management or traders to review and submit the availabilities to AEMO.

All users can view the generator availabilities so that the present and future status of the plant can be viewed by all relevant stakeholders.

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