Siemens is awarded Contract for Alberta Load Settlement Project

The order was awarded to Siemens Canada Limited in Mississauga, Ontario for software and implementation services from NewEnergy Associates located in Atlanta, Georgia.

After a thorough evaluation of proposed solutions, the AESO chose Siemens as its partner to address the AESO and its key stakeholders' stated needs for improved data validation and compliance monitoring to support Alberta's deregulated electricity market.

The e-LSI project will provide the marketplace with a province-wide central repository for market data and electronic business transactions between market participants that will ensure reliable, accurate, and timely data exchange in addition to facilitating the AESO's market compliance monitoring responsibilities.

"The Siemens team offered an innovative solution that reduced complexity and minimized changes to market participant operations," commented Ken Christensen, Vice President of Load Settlement at the AESO. Christensen added, "On-time delivery is a key factor and we were encouraged as a result of talking with their clients managing retail electricity operations on our scale."

Key components of the e-LSI solution are the Electronic Business Transaction Hub, Site Registry, and Load Settlement validation database. Market participants and the AESO staff will interact with e-LSI via a secure website or via a programmatic access to e-LSI. The foundation for the e-LSI implementation is RetailOffice(R), NewEnergy Associates' flagship solution for managing operations in competitive energy markets. RetailOffice leverages Oracle technology to manage large-scale load forecasting and settlement processes for gas and electric retail market participants.

"Alberta is an industry leader in restructured electricity market operations. We're delighted to be part of the AESO team and look forward to delivering a world-class solution for retail energy market data management," said Jesse H. Davis II, President of NewEnergy Associates.

Bob Usher, Vice President of NewEnergy Associates added, "We're helping the AESO improve the load settlement process by transitioning the market from a file based data exchange process to a real-time transaction processing approach. Market participants will have secure access to consistent settlement data, with advanced audit trail and compliance monitoring features."

NewEnergy Associates is a certified Oracle Application Partner.

As a subsidiary of Siemens AG, Siemens Canada Ltd. draws on the confidence and strength of our global network of innovation to provide integrated solutions to our customers. From its corporate headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario, Siemens employs 6,200 Canadians coast to coast, developing solutions for the entire country. Siemens leads the pursuit of technological innovation for Canadian health care, information & communications, energy & power, industry & automation, transportation and lighting. In Canada, Siemens is involved in a wide range of design and development projects in the automotive, medical, electrical and computer software fields.

NewEnergy Associates, a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation and a division of Siemens Power Generation (PG), has established itself as the leading global provider of true end-to-end business solutions for the energy industry. NewEnergy has been specializing in the development and support of integrated business applications in excess of 25 years, with clients worldwide in electric and natural gas utilities, energy trading and retailing, power generation and project development, transmission, as well as state and national governments. Further information at: http://www.newenergyassoc.com.