Energy Insights | Energy Exemplar

PLEXOS Selected for Optimization Plan of Tohoku Electric Power Co.

Written by Team Energy Exemplar | May 9, 2022

Energy Exemplar is honored to have been selected by Tohoku Electric Power Company to provide its award-winning energy modeling and simulation software, PLEXOS. PLEXOS will become the tool of choice to enable Tohoku to model and analyze its entire energy value chain.

“PLEXOS is a software that can perform optimization of the entire energy system including electricity, gas, and their markets in a single integrated process. The software reproduces the characteristics and behavior of actual power and gas systems and finds the best solution from a variety of options through mathematical optimization.” 

“We chose PLEXOS because it is unique in that, besides conventional electricity supply and demand simulation, it can also co-optimize gas and other market factors. We expect PLEXOS to provide powerful support for Tohoku Electric's optimization goals."

- Michihito Watanabe,
Deputy General Manager, Business Strategy Department, Power Generation Company, Tohoku Electric Power Co.

“Tohoku Electric is working to optimize the value chain from fuel to power generation, sales, and trading, and to maximize profits in light of intense trends in the electricity and fuel markets. Since our portfolio of fuel contracts and power generation facilities covers a wide range of areas, it is essential to share data from each department, including thermal power generation, fuel procurement, and trading, as well as supply-demand planning, to conduct this analysis.

Until now, no tool could calculate the energy market's entire value chain in a unified manner, so the work was divided among the various departments, resulting in delays and missed business opportunities. We expect that the use of PLEXOS, which enables a speedy grasp of the entire value chain, will reduce the number of missed opportunities for transactions.

-Yuki Abe
Senior Manager, Business Strategy Department, Power Generation Company, Tohoku Electric Power Co.

 

The Power Generation Company of Tohoku believes that the use of optimization support tools is effective in strengthening optimization functions and quickly pursuing the overall optimal solution. PLEXOS is an optimization system that has been widely used and developed in the energy industry for more than 20 years, since the deregulation of electricity in Europe and the U.S.. PLEXOS can perform optimization by adding fuel and market factors in addition to the conventional electricity supply and demand simulation. PLEXOS enables us to quickly analyze scenarios, assess risks, and quantify transactions according to the situation, from the electricity supply and demand planning, power generation planning, fuel trading, and market trading, and to provide powerful support for our company's optimization planning. We look forward to working with them.” Yuki Abe, Specialty Leader, Business Strategy Department, Power Generation Company, Tohoku Electric Power Co.

“With the progress of electricity deregulation in Japan, the time available for making transactional decisions is becoming less and less as electricity and fuels are increasingly marketed. We’re thrilled to partner with Tohoku to utilize PLEXOS to enable a speedy grasp of the entire value chain and reduce the number of missed opportunities for transactions.”

 - Stuart Kelly, Senior Vice President,
Head of APAC at Energy Exemplar

About Tohoku Electric Power Co.: Tohoku is a major electric power utility covering the northern part of Japan's main island of Honshu. It owns 17 GW of power generation facilities including thermal, hydro, nuclear, geothermal, and solar power, as well as a fuel LNG receiving terminal and pipelines, and sells 83 TWh of electricity The company is committed to being a part of the growth and development of Tohoku and Niigata region in Japan.

About Energy Exemplar: Energy Exemplar develops and supports PLEXOS, the market leading integrated energy simulation software. Along with electric power, water & gas datasets, users can digitally replicate real-world energy markets to deliver crucial forecasting. From short-term analysis to long-term planning studies, PLEXOS helps to inform trading, generation scheduling, capacity expansion and market analysis across industry sectors.

From their regional HQs including the US, Europe, North and South America and as well as Asia, Energy Exemplar helps 400+ customers, comprising a large share of the world’s top energy market stakeholders, across over 60 countries analyze scenarios for the most accurate outcomes while supporting their organizational and digital transformation.

Energy Exemplar Pty Ltd(本社:オーストラリア・アデレード、取締役社長:David Wilson、以下「Energy Exemplar」)は、東北電力株式会社(本社:宮城県仙台市、取締役社長 社長執行役員:樋口康二郎※、以下 「東北電力」)が需給最適化支援ツールとして Energy Exemplar の提供する最適化システム PLEXOS を採用 したことを発表いたしました。

PLEXOS は、電力・ガス及びそれらの市場を含むエネルギーシステム全体の最適化を一元的に実行できるソ フトウェアです。ソフトウェア内で実際の発電・ガスシステムの特徴や動作などを再現し、数理最適化によ り様々な選択肢の中から最適な解を見つけ出します。

東北電力 発電カンパニー 事業戦略部 副部長 渡邊道仁氏

「東北電力では燃料から発電、販売、トレーディングにいたるバリューチェーンの最適化、電力市場および 燃料市場の激しい動向を踏まえた利益最大化に取り組んでいる。燃料契約や発電設備などポートフォリオは 広範に渡ることから、これら分析には需給計画はもとより火力発電、燃料調達、トレーディングといった各 部門からのデータの共有が必須となるため、部門間の垣根を超えた検討体制を構築している。

当社発電カンパニーでは最適化機能を強化し迅速に全体最適解を追求するため、最適化支援ツールの活用が 有効と考えている。この度、欧米で電力自由化が開始して以来 20 年以上に渡ってエネルギー業界で広く使わ れ拡張開発されてきた最適化システム PLEXOS について評価を行い導入することを決定した。PLEXOS は従 来の電力の需給シミュレーションに加え、燃料や市場要素を加えた最適化が出来るところが他の同様なソフ トウェアにはない特徴である。PLEXOS を活用することで電力の需給計画、発電計画、燃料取引、市場取引 まで、状況に応じたシナリオ分析、リスク評価、取引の定量化などがスピーディに把握できるようになり、 当社の最適化施策立案を強力にサポートしてくれるものと期待している。」

東北電力 発電カンパニー 事業戦略部 主任 阿部祐希氏

「特に燃料調達では、日々変化する電力の需給状況がどのように将来に影響するかを検討し判断する必要が あるが、これまでバリューチェーン全体を一元的に計算できるツールが無く各担当個所で分業し進めていた ため、判断に時間を要し取引のチャンスを逃すことがあった。

日本でも電力自由化が進展し、電力・燃料の市場化が進むのに伴い、取引の判断に掛けられる時間は少なく なってきている。スピーディにバリューチェーン全体の状況を把握できる PLEXOS の活用により取引のチャ ンスを逃すことを少なくできると期待している。

更に今後、PLEXOS の優れた最適化機能や市場のモデリング機能を用いて、例えばスポット調達の最適化の ようなより高度な需給最適化に取り組むことを視野に検討を進めていく。」

Energy Exemplar シニアバイスプレジデント スチュアート・ケリー

「日本の電力自由化が進み電力や燃料の取引が活発になるにつれ、それら取引の動向はスピード感を増して います。Energy Exemplar は東北電力が PLEXOS を活用し、互いに連動する状況をより短時間で把握し取引 の機会損失を減らすことができるよう支援させて頂くことを大変嬉しく思います。」