Meridian Awards 2010

MapInfo Professional, in conjunction with market intelligence software by Ventyx, revolutionized the way we analyze and monitor the nascent wholesale electricity market in California that began on April 1, 2009. The new market brought with it a complete paradigm shift where the entire state went from having three pricing zones to over 4,000 pricing nodes. Without MapInfo to represent this data, we would have to pour through massive spreadsheets or cumbersome databases to analyze the vast amount of data. This process is inefficient and the sheer amount of data would be inundating and obfuscate any usefulness.

MapInfo provided the foundation for an innovative solution to this unprecedented problem. Within the MapInfo interface, we join together pre-developed geographical layers of electric grid components from Ventyx with constantly updated real-time electricity prices, which are then represented on the map as colors according to price range. We dub our solution the “heatmap.” This heatmap has become our standard for visualizing the 4,000+ nodal market prices all across California. It is the first tool in California to combine location and pricing information in a simple, intuitive format. It allows SCE to be continually aware of the current pricing conditions throughout California and to perform strategic analysis to uncover potential issues. The heatmap is a critical component for our internal assessments and our engagement with regulatory agencies and others. MapInfo allowed us to bring the heatmap to life.

The first image illustrates the pricing impact of a wildfire in Santa Barbara County in a heatmap with transmission lines overlaid. The second image is an example of some of the analysis that is possible with the heatmap; we are finding the pricing nodes that are statistically different from a weighted aggregate price, and we lowered the realm of influence of the price nodes to allow for pinpointing of location.