PLEXOS for Power Systems®
The Power Market Modelling Simulation Tool of Choice
Energy Exemplar is the developer of class-leading power market simulation software called PLEXOS®
for Power Systems® (“PLEXOS”).
PLEXOS® is a successful fundamental power market simulation product that is used for power
market modelling, Simulation and Analysis. Below is a categorisation of some of the functions that
PLEXOS® is used for:
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Electric Price Forecasting
Power Market Modelling Simulation and Analysis
Detailed Operational Planning and Optimization
Trading Decision Support
Strategic Modelling and Decision Support
Generation and Transmission Capacity Expansion Planning (Investment Analysis)
Renewable Integration Analysis
Co-optimization of Ancillary Services and Energy Dispatch
Transmission Analysis and Congestion Management
Portfolio Optimization and Valuation
Risk Management and Stochastic Optimization
All of these functions can be performed for any planning horizon: short term (minutes, hours, days,
months) to long term (10-40 years).
The comprehensive set of features of PLEXOS® has enabled its use in many areas of the energy
sector. Globally, the types of users of PLEXOS® include:
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Power Generation Companies
Transmission System Operators
Electricity Market Operators
Energy Commission and Regulators
Energy Trading Companies/Investment Banks
Price Forecasting Agencies
Power Plant Manufacturers
Power Plant Construction Companies
Consultants
Academics and Research Institutions
There are two types of PLEXOS® products:
1) PLEXOS® Desktop Edition – this is the main product with graphical interface and all the
simulation and analysis functions and features.
Energy Exemplar Pty Ltd
Suite 3, 154-160 Prospect Road
Prospect
SA 5082, Australia
Tel: +61 8 8342 9616
Energy Exemplar Ltd
1 Lyric Square
London, W6 ONB
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 203 178 6930
www.energyexemplar.com
Energy Exemplar LLC
Suite 175, 3009 Douglas Blvd
Roseville, CA 95661
United States of America
Tel: +1 916 722 1484
2) PLEXOS® Connect Client-Server Edition – this is the data management program that is an
extension to the PLEXOS® Desktop Edition and used for centralised storage, distributed
computing, multi-user access rights, data sharing, version control.
Free Demonstration and Trial
We can provide a free demonstration at your office or via the web, and a free 30 day trial. In
addition, we can arrange references from our clients in Europe, Russia and other regions worldwide.
Licensing, Maintenance and Technical Support
Both the PLEXOS® Desktop Edition and PLEXOS® Connect Client-Server Edition are normally annual
licenses. PLEXOS® Desktop Edition uses a third party optimization solver. You can choose from one
of the top 4 commercial solvers (CPLEX, Xpress-MP, Gurobi and Mosek), all of which are inbuilt and
installed as part of PLEXOS®. We enable the solver chosen and licensed by the customer.
In addition, the annual license fees include:
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maintenance of the software and upgrade to latest release at no extra cost
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unlimited technical support via email and phone at no extra cost
Options for daily, monthly and quarterly licenses are available for consultancies or projects.
Energy Exemplar has dedicated teams providing technical, consulting and implementation support
to a global customer base that demands the best quality products and service.
Energy Exemplar continues to ‘push the envelope’ in being the first-to-market with the latest
advances in mathematical programming and power market simulation theory to ensure that
PLEXOS® remains the most comprehensive, easy-to-use simulation software.
PLEXOS® 6.0 Desktop Edition Components
The PLEXOS® 6.0 Desktop Edition is made up of essentially two components:
(a) PLEXOS® Graphical User Interface ('GUI')
(b) PLEXOS® 'Execution Engine'.
An additional component, which is not part of PLEXOS® as it is from third-party provider, is:
(c) a mathematical optimisation solver ('Solver').
The GUI is what an analyst uses to enter data, create models with particular simulation choice. Let's
call this a 'Simulation' (or a model). The PLEXOS® Execution Engine takes the Simulation from the
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GUI, processes it according to simulation settings and prepares Mathematical Programming
Formulations ('a Simulation Job'), and then sends the Simulation Job to the Solver for execution.
Each PLEXOS® 6 Desktop Edition license gives both (a) GUI + (b) Execution Engine. For each PLEXOS®
6 Desktop Edition license you need (c) a Solver and therefore a solver license.
PLEXOS Client-Server Edition Components
The PLEXOS® Client-Server Edition (Connect System) is essentially 3 components:
(d) A Server: This is the main part of the Client-Server application that stores list of datasets (simulations/models and power system data), registered users and their rights,
registered Client computers; it distributes/schedules Simulation Jobs to Client
computers, retrieves and stores simulation results from Client computers, does data
version control, etc.
(e) A Client: A Client is a computer on the company network that is linked to the Server and
has been nominated to be available for execution of Simulation Jobs. A small Client
Application is installed on each Client computer. These can be computers on the
network that are used by everyday employees. They can run the Client Application when
they want their computer to be considered for execution of Simulation Jobs.
(f) Launch Control: This is an application that allows control of the Server. For example,
setting up or registering Clients and Users, tracking progress of Simulation Jobs
executing on Clients in real time, downloading results and downloading/uploading
different versions of data-sets.
When you purchase Client-Server Edition, you only pay for license of the Server. You can have as
many Clients and Launch Control applications installed as you want without any additional license
fees. To use Client-Server you do need at least 1 PLEXOS® Desktop Edition license and 1 Execution
Engine only license. I explain further below.
Any PLEXOS® Desktop Edition license/installations you purchase are designed to integrate with the
Client-Server. Having a Client-Server means you can buy PLEXOS® Execution Engine only license,
which is same as PLEXOS® Desktop Edition except without the GUI. The Execution Engine also
requires a Solver license to work. The way to use Client-Server is as following: Edit
models/simulations in a PLEXOS® Desktop Edition and send a Simulation Job to the Server. The
Server then sends Simulation Job out to an available Client for execution. A Client requires an
Execution Engine + Solver license to be able to execute the Simulation Job. It does not need a GUI
(hence the Execution Engine only license is much cheaper than PLEXOS® Desktop Edition license with
GUI).
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Example of using Client-Connect Edition with PLEXOS®
Desktop and Execution Engine only
Suppose a Customer buys 3 Desktop Edition licenses, 2 Execution Engine only licenses and a ClientServer license. See Figure 1 below for graphical representation. Figure 2 shows that the Customer
has 3 Client computers on the network: 1 is Analyst 3’s computer with Desktop Edition and 2 are
Execution Engines only. Only Analyst 3’s computer is a client; Analyst 1 and 2 choose not to
nominate their computers as Clients. Computers of all analysts have Launch Control application.
Observe that there are 2 more computers with only Launch Control installed.
Assume that initially Analyst 3, whose computer is a nominated Client, chooses not to run the Client
Application while they are working on the computer. So only 2 Clients are available for executing
Simulation Jobs.
The 3 analysts can be concurrently creating and editing models/simulations using the PLEXOS®
Desktop Editions and sending various Simulation Jobs to the Server. The Server will then send the
Simulation Jobs to one of the 2 available Clients on the network for execution. In this instance, you
have 2 Execution Engine only licenses so only 2 Simulation Jobs can be executed concurrently. Of
course an analyst can choose to execute a simulation right on the same computer they are using
since they have Desktop Edition that comes with an Execution Engine.
Now suppose Analyst 3 has left and made their computer available as a Client by starting the Client
Application on their computer. That means there are now 3 Clients available to execute Simulation
Jobs sent from the Server because the Desktop Edition installed on that analyst's computer has both
a GUI and an Execution Engine. (A Simulation Job only requires the Execution Engine part of Desktop
Edition.)
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PLEXOS 6 Desktop Edition (GUI + Execution Engine )
PLEXOS 6 Execution Engine only
Launch Control
Client
Server
Note: Here we assume each Execution Engine has access to a Solver.
Figure 1: Client-Server and Desktop Edition Components/Applications
Analyst 1
Analyst 2
Figure 2: Client-Server and Desktop Edition Example
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Analyst 3