Provision of 2 software packages to support the UK Electricity Industry to move towards Distribution System Operator (DS0). The packages will be used to support trials as part of the transition project (www.ssen-transition.com), with the subsequent business as usual system subject to a further tender exercise in the future.

The software packages are:

— Lot 1: The Neutral Market Facilitator (NMF) will provide a market for trading the use of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs),

— Lot 2: The Whole System Coordinator (WSC) will be the DSO’s point of interaction with the NMF.

The packages need to communicate with many other systems, so need to use industry standard communication protocols. Full details of the specifications for both systems are in the specification documents included within this opportunity and further background details of both system, as well as the Transition project, can be found on www.ssen-transition.com

The Neutral Market Facilitator (NMF) will provide a market for trading the use of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), i.e. flexible energy resources connected to the distribution network; this will include demand response as well as generation. Functionality includes the procurer of flexibility noting confirmation of dispatch to the flexibility provider via the NMF. Note that intent to dispatch will be with sufficient notice to confirm use of and to arm energy resources, but will not provide activation of dispatch. This means that direct control of devices does not go via the NMF and real-time control is not the responsibility of the NMF.

The Whole System Coordinator (WSC) will be the DSO’s point of interaction with the NMF. Where the DSO has identified a need to procure use of energy flexibility from the market, the WSC will provide information about existing DSO flexibility contracts and communicate with the NMF regarding potential new contracts. The WSC will also provide facilities to assess potential negative impacts of peer-to-peer trades on the NMF.