A short note today to point deSide licensees to the new versions of the installed components:
(A) There are six components in the deSide® bundle – three of them installed
There are six components inside of the deSide bundle – with that page providing 6 hyperlinks through which to understand more about each component. The first three of these components are installed.
Please give us a call (07 3368 4064) if you have any questions about any of these?
(B) Suggestion … wait until after AEMO publishes ‘GO’ decision about Five Minute Settlement
Five Minute Settlement is due to commence from 00:05 on Friday 1st October 2021 (i.e. the first new five-minute trading period) .
This will be a massive change for the market – and one that many stakeholders have been investing time to address for a long period of time (ourselves included – such as with these upgrades to the various components in the deSide package).
Like every large project:
1) There is a possibility (though not a likelihood) that the NEM might not be ready for Five Minute Settlement.
2) To address this risk, AEMO has been managing a broader 5MS work stream, and has submitted a precautionary Rule Change to the AEMC as a contingency plan, in case a delay is required.
Important to note that, if there were to be a delay:
(a) it would be of several months in duration; and
(b) from your perspective, if you had already installed upgrades to deSide, you would need to wind them back – to continue under 30 Minute Settlement for a while longer (as the transition date is hard-coded into the software).
3) This Wednesday 1st September 2021 will be a big milestone day:
(a) AEMO has undertaken to advise the market if there is any cause for delay by this Wednesday, 1 September 2021 (no notice has been provided as at 30th August 2021).
(b) Furthermore, the expectation is that AEMO will publish a ‘go’ decision on Wednesday 1st September. If/when this happens, we’d probably look to publish a note about that at WattClarity, so we’d suggest you look out for it there.
PS on Wed 1st Sept 2021 – the ‘5MS Start Notice’ has been published by AEMO.
4) Once you know that it is ‘full steam ahead’ to Five Minute Settlement on 1st October, you’d then be free to schedule in the upgrade of the installed components in the lead-up to 1st October 2021.
(C) Upgrading your installed components?
You will need to upgrade the three installed components. To make it less confusing for our clients, all three components will now be ‘version 6’.
We recommend that you upgrade in the following order:
Step 1a = install deSide v6 updater first.
You can download the installer for the deSide updater v6 here. On the same page is also a link to download the detailed installation instructions.
Install this before installing client or ticker.
Step 1b = the deSide v6 updater will update the existing database by default (unless you take steps to create a new one)
This will upgrade* the existing database – one which:
(i) Is compatible with the new structure of Five Minute Settlement (i.e. AEMO’s MMS v5.0 and above); and
(ii) Contains some additional data requested by our clients.
This database upgrade(*) will happen:
(i) if you have installed the updater on the same machine as the old one, and
(ii) hence there is an existing connection string to the existing database present.
If you want to create a new database for the new version, you will need to:
(i) decline the invitation to upgrade the database; and
(ii) instead, choose to install a new database instead (on the same SQL server instance, or a new SQL server instance).
Step 1c = update the Reaper Script (if required)
If you are installing the deSide database onto SQL express (or if otherwise desired, for space reasons) you will also need to set up the reaper script, which you can also download from here.
It’s also described in the detailed installation instructions.
Step 1d = update data feed to your Process Control System
Towards the end of the detailed installation instructions we provide a number of queries used by clients to update data fields directly inside of their Process Control System (e.g. for automated curtailment and/or to utilise the alarms capability in their PCS to keep operators aware of price trends).
These have been updated for deSide updater v6. Now three types of queries are provided:
Query Type 1 = Estimated Trading Price for ENERGY
This was already provided in the older installation guide (and used by many clients). The form of this query has been updated to work in the new Five Minute Settlement environment.
Query Type 2 = Price for FCAS
This new query has been added in, based on client requests.
Query Type 3 = Real time output of [MY SOLAR FARM or WIND FARM]
Also based on client requests, this additional data has been added into the update – and the query used to feed this into Process Control System has also been provided.
Step 2 = install the deSide client
Once you have the deSide updater installed (and the Reaper, if required) you can start installing the deSide client.
This new deSide client v6 will not connect to old deSide databases (if will give you ‘invalid connection string’ dialogue).
You can download the deSide client v6 installer here – and the page also contains the new detailed installation instructions
Step 3 = install the NEM ticker
Next step, then, is to install the NEM ticker on machines where it is required.
You can download the NEM ticker v6 installer here – and the page also contains the new detailed installation instructions
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If you need a hand in doing any of the above, please either:
(a) give us a call (07 3368 4064); or
(b) send us a detailed email to support@global-roam.com.
(D) What about the three online components?
There are also three additional (and separate) components:
Component 4) deSide Mobile
Component 5) deSide online analysis
Component 6) deSide alerting
As these are not installed components, there is nothing you need to do … (as noted here back in June) they will update automatically as part of Five Minute Settlement.
(E) Remember these tripwires!
Back on 10th June we drew your attention to three potential tripwires fast approaching – the first two with Five Minute Settlement (very relevant to you), and the third with the Wholesale Demand Response Mechanism (less relevant to you, perhaps).
Please keep these in mind as you work through the upgrade process above, and proceed into Five Minute Settlement.
(F) Other enhancements…
As noted here back in June, there are other enhancements we are looking to make to how we serve Large Energy Users like our deSide clients … and we’ll return to those ideas once we are past Five Minute Settlement and the Wholesale Demand Response Mechanism.