POWER PLANNING AND FORECASTING CAPABILITIES FOR A CLEAN ECONOMY

EnCompass makes it possible to analyze and defend data from one cohesive system. Perform a full optimization of all resources within a market or utility control center enforcing transmission limits and a complete set of operating costs and real world constraints. Build better models and evaluate new technologies for sustainability.

POWER PLANNING AND FORECASTING CAPABILITIES FOR A CLEAN ECONOMY

MORE CAPABILITIES TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

STORAGE & RENEWABLES

Evaluate the benefits and restrictions of hybrid resources

Co-optimize limited energy resources such as hydro, storage, and demand response with load shifting or “bounce back.”

Storage may be paired with renewable projects to only charge when they generate (sharing an inverter) or may charge using any resource connected to the grid. Cycle depth penalties may also be used to reduce excessive cycling and extend the life of batteries. Intermittent renewable resources such as wind and solar may be modeled with daily profile shapes down to the 1-minute level. Excess generation that cannot be stored or sold will be curtailed, with the ability to set the priority of resources for curtailment and if costs should still be applied.

Combined with the ramp rate restrictions on dispatchable resources, EnCompass provides all of the necessary features to quantify the impacts of renewable and storage integration at the sub-hourly level.

POWER TO GAS

Robust planning software for green hydrogen storage transition

HYDROGEN STORAGE

The carbon-free production, storage, and combustion of hydrogen is one of the most promising technologies to store excess renewable energy and use during peak load periods.

EnCompass includes fuel inventory logic that allows for resources like electrolysis to convert power into hydrogen gas based on an input kWh/kg rate. That hydrogen can then be stored and used in properly equipped combustion turbines in simple or combined cycle configurations.

For long term runs that can include capacity expansion (with electrolysis as an available option), EnCompass will determine the best times to produce and consume hydrogen, and the monthly levels of storage subject to maximum and minimum constraints. The monthly storage strategy automates detailed simulations that track and optimize hydrogen storage daily.

DESIGNED FOR THE ANALYST

INTUITIVE FEATURES

Import and export data to Excel spreadsheets automating entry of large amounts of data

EnCompass software was designed with the analyst in mind, making data setup and reporting simple and intuitive.

Create multiple scenarios using shared datasets, with scenarios grouped into structured folders that make it easy for capital projects, outage dates, and initial conditions to be set based on prior simulations.

Import and export data to Excel spreadsheets in a straight-forward, easy-to-read format, automating entry of large amounts of data. Users can export as little as a single dataset or an entire database to Excel to transport data. The software uses an SQL server database, allowing multiple users access to data at the same time. All data entries clearly display who made the change and when. EnCompass scripts may be used to automate data changes, submit runs, generate reports, and call external command-line processes.

TOOLS TO DO YOUR JOB BETTER, FASTER

PERFORMANCE OPTIONS

Designed for the analyst to have complete control.

Numerous options allow the user to simplify the detailed commitment and dispatch problem needed to perform simulations with reasonable runtime. This may include aggregating hours within a day and using typical days of the week or typical on-peak/off-peak days for each month, but still maintaining the chronology necessary for enforcing ramp rates, storage limits, and commitment requirements. EnCompass allows runs to be segmented with overlapping periods, so that a 1-year simulation is a succession of 7-day simulations with an extra day added on to reduce end effects, and initial conditions of subsequent weeks set accordingly. The unit commitment logic level of precision may also be adjusted to produce faster simulations, but still account for commitment costs and ancillary service requirements. A run can be split into segments based on some number of months and processed in parallel either on a local machine or grid of connected computers.
TIME SERIES

Control input data details with more power and flexibility.

Time Series is a simple way to develop a stream of data over time, including detailed daily shapes, and share those assumptions across multiple items and inputs. All costs, volumes, and constraints in EnCompass are input using a Time Series, which can be comprised of a single entry or multiple future entries that repeat or escalate throughout time. Certain inputs, such as Demand and Energy Prices that have daily shapes defined, may be escalated annually (maintaining the proper days of the week) while being scaled up or down to match inputs for annual peak and energy (for demand) or monthly on-peak and off-peak (for energy prices).
UNIT COMMITMENT

The unit commitment model can be used across all applications.

Determine the best combination of resources to commit along with the optimal dispatch and storage levels for each interval of the operating day. In addition to minimum uptime and downtime requirements, EnCompass can cap the number of starts and shutdowns, as well as recognize costs and fuel requirements for hot, warm, and cold starts and shutdowns.
DETAILED DISPATCH

Utilize a detailed dispatch model to determine cost and output.

Heat rates and dispatch costs are set for any number of blocks, and any number of fuels may be defined. EnCompass will utilize the least-cost fuel, subject to minimum and maximum limits and blending restrictions. Dependency constraints and waste heat recovery allow combined cycle resources to be modeled as complete configurations or as individual components. Alternative operating modes are used to define different conditions for co-firing multiple fuels or operating emission reduction equipment. Resources may be assigned to multiple environmental programs, which may include mass-based emission allowances, rate-based emission rate credits, or renewable energy credits.
ANCILLARY SERVICES

Achieve higher resilience in modeling and decision making.

Regional ancillary service requirements are co-optimized along with area load to ensure enough resources are available for uncertain events. Ancillary services include supplemental reserves and regulation reserves (both up and down), contingency reserves (with a spinning and non-spinning component). Reserve regions may overlap so that subareas must maintain a minimum level of reserves in addition to market-wide requirements or they may span multiple balancing authorities to provide reserve sharing.

The software uses an SQL server database, allowing multiple users access to data at the same time, and all data entries clearly display who conducted changes and when. EnCompass scripts can automate data changes, submit runs, generate reports, and call external command-line processes.
OUTAGES

Automatically plan scheduled maintenance and model forced unplanned outages.

Planned maintenance for resources may be entered with historical or planned dates that repeat in the future, for example, every 12 or 18 months. Each potential outage may also have an allowable shift, which allows EnCompass to determine the optimal timing of planned outages within a region. Unplanned outages can then be randomly determined for each resource based on input forced outage rates and lengths. The structured scenarios within EnCompass make it easy to use the same outage schedule from a long-term parent scenario in multiple child scenarios.

BUILT FOR UNIFICATION AND TRANSPARENCY

RESULTS & REPORTS

Easily view and understand results through high-level summaries or detailed dispatch reports automatically at the click of a button. No additional setup required!

Tables and charts are used to put the results into context, and include key metrics such as reserve margins, availability, capacity factors, average costs, pricing, realized market prices, and profitability.

EnCompass provides a structured data environment that makes it easy to setup shared assumptions, but also has tools to show the actual detailed data that will be part of the simulation before executing runs. All or selected inputs can show values for any number of days, months, or years can be shown for all or selected inputs, with the effects of Time Series repeating patterns and escalations considered. The Supply Curve report will show, for a selected balancing authority or zone, all resources with expected capacity and bids in a merit-order stack, both as a table and a chart.

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