Request for Expressions of Interest -

HV Allocation Model

Services: / Heating Value and Gas Composition Allocation Model
(HV Allocation Model)
AEMO Project Manager: / For further information or clarifications (see also section B.5), contact:
George Giannatos

Expression of Interestsubmissionsmust not be made to this e-mail address.
Closing Date: / 5:00pm (AEST) 29April 2016.
Expression of Interestsubmissionsto be emailed to:

Australian Energy Market Operator Limited (ABN 94 072 010 327)

Level 22, 530CollinsStreet

Melbourne VIC 3000

Tel: 03 9609 8000

Fax: 03 9609 8080

Request for Expressions of Interest – Heating Value Allocation Model

Table of Contents

SECTION A:REQUEST FOR EOI

SECTION B:INFORMATION FOR RECIPIENTS

SECTION C:EOI REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION

SECTION D:EOI FORM

SCHEDULE 1

SCHEDULE 2

SCHEDULE 3

SCHEDULE 4

SCHEDULE 5

SECTION A:REQUEST FOR EOI

A.1Background

AEMO is a company limited by guarantee. It has statutory functions under the National Electricity Law, National Gas Law and Rules made under those Laws, including:

  • Market and system operator of the National Electricity Market (NEM);
  • National transmission planning for the NEM;
  • Market and system operator of the Victorian Declared Wholesale Gas Market;
  • Market operator of gas short term trading markets, gas trading exchanges and retail gas markets in eastern and southern Australia.

With its broad national focus for the future,AEMO’s objectives are to promote efficientinvestment in and operation of Australia’selectricity and gas services for the long-term interests of consumers with respect toprice, quality, safety, reliability and securityof energy supply.

A.2Request for EOI

This project covers the Victorian Declared Wholesale Gas Market which is supplied by the Declared Transmission System. This system supplies a total of more than 1.9million customers. There are 10 injection points and over 140 withdrawal points on the transmission system.

AEMO is required by the NGR to:

  • determine the source of data for determining the energy content of gas (including heating value, gas composition and relative density) flowing through a metering installation,
  • have regard to the proximity of the source of the data to the relevant metering installation, and
  • average the data for one hour to be applied at hourly intervals.

EXPRESSIONS OFINTEREST ARE INVITEDfor the provision ofa new heating value and gas composition data allocation model to cover all points connected to the Victorian Declared Wholesale Gas Market.

A.3Glossary

In this document, a capitalised word or phrase has the meaning as set out in this table:

Addendum / Any document issued after the date of this Request for EOI and labelled as an “Addendum” to this Request for EOI; collectively known as “Addenda”.
AEMO / Australian Energy Market Operator Limited ABN 94 072 010 327. References to AEMO include, where the context requires, AEMO’s employees, officers, contractors, consultants, advisers and other persons authorised to act for AEMO.
AEMO Project Manager / The person specified on the cover of this Request for EOI.
Alstom / The company that provides the AEMO SCADA system
Business Days / A day other than Saturday, Sunday and any other day not taken to be a public holiday in Victoria.
Closing Date / The date specified on the cover of this Request for EOI.
CTM / Custody transfer meter
DTS / The Victorian Declared Transmission System
DWGM / Victorian Declared Wholesale Gas Market
EOI or Expression of Interest / The submission lodged by the Recipient in response to this Request for EOI.
EOI Form / The document contained in Section D.
GC / Gas chromatograph
GCD download / Gas composition data (GCD) download is an application within the Alstom SCADA system that downloads heating value and gas composition to a metering RTU where gas flow is measured
HV allocation / Heating value and gas composition allocation
MDA application / An application for mapping metering data in a database
MIBB / Market Information Bulletin Board
NGR
PI System / National Gas Rules.
The PI System is a suite of software products that is developed by OSIsoft. AEMO uses the PI system as a data historian which collects operational data from a real time system, the Alstom SCADA.
Recipient / A person in receipt of this Request for EOI.
Request for EOI / This document, including its schedules, attachments and appendices.
SCADA / Supervisory control and data acquisition is a system that gathers real-timedata from remote terminal units and other communication sources in the field and enables operators to control field devices from their consoles.
Services / The servicesdescribed in Schedule 2 of the EOI Form.
Statement of Compliance / The document contained in Schedule 1 of the EOI Form.
SWP / The Southwest Pipeline (from Iona to Brooklyn)

SECTION B:INFORMATION FOR RECIPIENTS

B.1Legal Status

This Request for EOI is an invitation to treat and is not intended to have any contractual effect. Short-listed Recipients may be invited to submit tenders for the delivery of the Services after the conclusion of the EOI process.

B.2Confidentiality

This Request for EOI may contain confidential information about AEMO or its operations and markets, and is provided solely to enable Recipients to submit proposals. Recipients must not use information in this document for any other purpose without AEMO’s prior written consent. To the extent that confidential information is provided to Recipients, Recipients must take all reasonable steps (both physically and electronically) to protect the confidentiality of such information.

B.3No Warranty

Except to the extent required by law:

  • AEMO makes no warranties or representations on the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the Request for EOI or any other information provided to a Recipient;
  • AEMO is not liable in any way for any loss or damage of whatever kind (whether foreseeable or not) however arising (including by reason of negligence), incurred by any person in connection with this Request for EOI or any other information provided to a Recipient.
  • No Collusion or Dealings with Competitors

Recipients must ensure that they (and their principals, employees, agents and contractors) do not:

(a)Discuss this Request for EOI with any other person they know has received this Request for EOI or might reasonably be expected to have received it; or

(b)Engage in any conduct that is designed to, or might have the effect of, lessening competition in the supply to AEMO of the Services.

Recipients who wish to engage in legitimate teaming or sub-contracting discussions with persons who might deliver the Services must gain AEMO’s prior approval to do so.

B.5Queries

If Recipients find any discrepancy, error, or have any doubt as to the meaning or completeness of this Request for EOI, or require clarification on any aspect of it, they should notify the AEMO Project Manager in writing, not less than 7 days before the Closing Date. AEMO may issue an Addendum to all Recipients clarifying the discrepancy, error, doubt, or query (as the case may be) and may extend the Closing Date if AEMO considers it appropriate in all the circumstances.

No representation or explanation to Recipients in relation to this Request for EOI is taken to be included in the Request for EOI unless it is contained in an Addendum.

B.6Short-listed Recipients

Following the conclusion of the EOI process, a short list of Recipients will be invited to submit tenders for the delivery of the Services. Tender documentation will be issued to short-listed Recipients subject to receipt, by AEMO, of a signed Confidentiality Agreement (Schedule 5) issued as part of the EOI process.

B.7Conditions of submitting an Expression of Interest

Recipients wishing to submit an Expression of Interestmust comply with Section C.

SECTION C:EOI REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION

C.1Submitting anEOI

An EOImust meet the following requirements:

  • All applicable sections of the EOIForm and Schedules must be completed.
  • The EOI must be dated and signed (in the case of a body corporate, by a duly authorised officer) where indicated.
  • All supporting documentation evidencing the matters specified in Schedule 3 to the EOI Form must be included with the EOI, to the extent applicable to the proposed Service.
  • If a Recipient cannot comply with any element of the EOI Form or Schedules, the Recipient must specify in the Statement of Compliance the nature of, and reasons for, the non-compliance.
  • EOIs must be lodged in electronic form, to , by 5:00 pm (AEST) on the Closing Date.
  • Additional documentation may be submitted with an EOIif, in the Recipient’s opinion, it is necessary for a proper understanding of itsEOI.

AEMO may decide to accept late or non-conforming EOIs, but is not obliged to do so under any circumstances.

C.2Recipients to perform own due diligence

By submitting an EOI, aRecipient is taken to have:

  • satisfied itself of the requirements of this Request for EOI;
  • made all reasonable enquiries, investigation and assessment of available information relevant to the risks, contingencies and other circumstances relating to the Services; and
  • satisfied itself as to the correctness and sufficiency of itsEOI.
  • EOIs Commercial-in-Confidence

EOIs will be treated as confidential and will not be disclosed outside AEMOexcept:

  • as reasonably required for the purpose of assessing the proposed Services;
  • required by law, or in the course of legal proceedings;
  • requested by any regulatory or other government authority having jurisdiction over AEMO, or its activities; or
  • to AEMO’s external advisers, consultants or insurers,

in which case the Recipient is deemed to have consented to this disclosure by providing the EOI.

C.4No reimbursement for costs of EOI

No Recipient is entitled to be reimbursed for any expense or loss incurred in the preparation and submission of its EOI or for any costs incurred in attending meetings with AEMO during the EOI process.

C.5No publicity

Recipients must not make any public or media announcement about this Request for EOI or the outcome of this Request for EOI without AEMO’s prior written permission.

C.6EOI Evaluation

AEMO’s assessment of EOIs may include, but is not limited to, an evaluation of the following matters as relevant to the provision of the Services:

  • Proven ability and experience delivering similar services
  • Proven ability, as evidenced by references, to deliver equivalent services to best practice standards
  • Recipient’scapacity and resources, including personnel and facilities.
  • No obligation to debrief

AEMO is under no obligation to debrief any Recipient as to AEMO’s evaluation of EOIs, or give any reason for the acceptance of or non-acceptance of any EOI.

C.8Confidentiality Agreement

Recipients are required to sign the Confidentiality Agreement in the form of Schedule 5. This Agreement will apply to parties short-listed to submit tenders, following the conclusion of the EOI process.

C.9AEMO not bound to proceed

AEMO is under no obligation to proceed with, or accept any EOI, complete the process outlined in this Request for EOI, invite any Recipient to submit a tender, or ultimately purchase any goods or services that comprise any part of the Services.

AEMO may amend the process outlined in this Request for EOI by issuing an Addendum.

C.10Intellectual property rights

Unless otherwise indicated, AEMO owns the intellectual property rights in this Request for EOI. Recipients are permitted to use and copy this document for the purposes of submitting an EOI.

AEMO will retain and own all EOIs lodged as a result of this Request for EOI. Apart from AEMO’s right to copy and distribute EOIs for the purposes of evaluation, Recipients’ intellectual property rights in their EOIs are not affected by AEMO’s rights under this Section C.10.

SECTION D:EOI FORM

To:Australian Energy Market Operator Ltd
Level 22, 530 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Expression of Interest for Heating Value Allocation Model

From:

Recipient:
ABN:
Address:
Contact Person: / Name:
Title:
Telephone no:
Facsimile no:
E-mail:

1.EOI

The Recipient expresses its interest in providing the Services in accordance withthe requirements of the Request for EOI as specified in the Statement of Compliance in Schedule 1. If submitting this EOI in hard copy and electronic form, the Recipient must ensure they are identical and agrees that AEMO may rely on either version when evaluating the EOI.

2.Agency/Joint EOI

The Recipient is/is not[1] acting as agent or trustee for another person, or lodging anEOI jointly with other persons.

(If the Recipient is acting as an agent or trustee, full details must be provided in this section)

3.Services

The Recipient provides the supporting information required by Schedules 2 and 3 for the Services to be provided.

4.Addenda to Request for EOI (only if Addenda received)

In the preparation of its EOI, the Recipient acknowledges having received the following Addenda, if any, to the Request for EOI:

Addendum No.1 Dated

Addendum No.2Dated

Addendum No.3Dated

5.How did you hear about the Request for EOI? (please tick)

□ The Australian IT Section

□ The Australian Business Section

□ TheWeekend Australian

□ Other______(please state how you heard of the Request for EOI)

NOTE: Capitalised terms in this EOI Form and Schedules are defined in the Request for EOI.

Dated thisday of2015

EXECUTED by [name of Recipient] by its duly appointed representative in the presence of: / )
)
)
...... ……..
Witness
...... ……..
Name of witness (print) / ...... ……..
Authorised officer
...... ……..
Name of authorised officer (print)
...... ……..
Title of authorised officer (print)

SCHEDULE 1

STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE

I [Name] confirm on behalf of [Recipient]that this EOI conforms in every respect with the Request for EOI.

OR

I [Name] confirm on behalf of [Recipient]that this EOI conformswith the Request for EOIother thanin the following respects:

Recipient's name______

Recipient/Authorised officer signature______

Date______

SCHEDULE2

BACKGROUND AND PROJECTREQUIREMENTS

  1. Background

1.1Heating value allocation requirement

Gas is measured based on the energy content at injection (or receipt) and withdrawal (or delivery) points. The calculation of energy requires the volume of gas that has passed through a meter to bemultiplied by the gas heating value.

In Victoria, most custody transfer and consumer metering installations are remote from the locations where the heating value of the gas is measured. The heating value to be applied to the metered flows must be allocated based on measurements remote from the metering installations.

The heating value of the metered gas at gas injection points on the gas transmission system is determined by the gas chromatographs (GC) at that location. The gas composition is also used for the calculation of gas compressibility and other gas characteristics at the metering installations. There are also a number of GC installations at other key locations on the DTS that are used to verify the HV allocation purposes.

Figure 1Schematic of the Victorian gas transmission system

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the DTS showing the locations of gas chromatographs, injection and withdrawal points, and the flows in various parts of the system. Note that the daily flows indicated are absolute maximums dependent on system conditions.

Pipeline description

  • Longford to Melbourne and Wollert

Longford injects 70 - 80 % of the gas in the Victorian market. As a result gas on the Longford to Melbourne Pipeline always flows away from Longford towards Melbourne and Wollert

  • Northern System

The direction of flow in the northern system is typically north (i.e. Victoria exports gas to New South Wales through Culcairn). The northern system does flow south at times but the circumstances for this tend to be unpredictable. High demand in Melbourne from cold weather can make southern flows more likely but does not guarantee it.

  • South West Pipeline

The Iona hub contains a number of gas sources, but most notably it is the point where a large underground gas storage facility is located. During summer the storage facility is filled by withdrawing from the DTS and during winter it draws on its stored gas to inject into the DTS. Flows on the South West Pipeline therefore tend to be seasonal in response to Iona’s injections and withdrawals. However, the flows have been known to unexpectedly change in summer, depending on market participants’ needs.

  • Other pipelines

The flow on the remainder of pipelines is highly dependent on the way operators choose to operate the system. On any given day, changes in weather or the market may require that flow directions on these pipelines be altered to ensure the gas flows to where it is needed.

1.2Current AEMO heating value allocation process

AEMO allocates heating values with the use of an Excel spreadsheet tool called the Heating Value (HV) Allocation Model, which was developed in 2003. This model maps a predicted source of gas to be used for metering points, then determines energy content of the delivered gas at those points.

The HV Allocation Model determines (based on previous monthly average gas flows) which Gas Chromatograph should be assigned to which Heating Value Zone; and the time delays to be used to allow for the gas to move through the transmission system.

On a monthly basis, AEMO enters the mapping of the assigned GC and the time delay for each heating value zone into the mms_prod database via an MDA application. A heating value zone contains multiple metering points or custody transfer meters (CTMs).

On an hourly basis, a GCD download module in the Alstom Gas SCADA System takes heating value and gas composition data from the archive database (where the historical SCADA measurements are stored) and downloads them to the relevant RTU at themetering point, based on the source GC and the time delay for that HV zone. In addition, a dedicated process (int110 process) also determines the hourly average heating value for each heating value zone. A further dedicated daily process calculates average daily flow weighted heating value for the system (state heating value)by 5pm on the following gas day.

At the end of each month, the Metering Team uses an MS Access tool to assess the need to make hourly energy value corrections for each heating value zone using updated GC data based on the average actual flows for the month.

Due to rapid expansions of the DTS and dynamic flow (injection and withdrawal) changes between gas days in the SWP and Northern System, the current HV allocation methodology is no longer appropriate and “fit-for-purpose”. For instance, the gas flows into the CTMs in the Geelong, Ballarat and Melbourne metropolitan regions can be supplied one day from the Iona hub and the very next day from Longford. The heating value ofthe gas injected at the Iona hub can be vastly different from the gas injected at Longford.