Marketing infrastructures and networks

Transcription

1 22 nd World Gas Conference Tokyo 2003 Task Force A: Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Contribution of Bernard Leblanc, Chairman and CEO of COGAG Holding of Gaz de France s downstream activities Information and communication technologies have developed in all sectors of the economy, though market opening has led to much faster integration of these technologies in the gas industry. Gas companies must adapt to a new set of rules imposed by European legislation, but also to competition in their non-regulated activities (downward pressure on prices, a broader range of offerings), and to the new demands and controls imposed by the regulator in their regulated activities (economic efficiency). In response to these new constraints, the gas industry is rethinking its mode of operation, notably by developing ICTs and adapting existing information systems (IS). The following fields and activities are concerned: Marketing infrastructures and networks The European gas directives call for the unbundling of network infrastructure management and natural gas marketing, under the supervision of the national regulators. To satisfy this requirement, existing information systems must be extended or modified since they are not necessary designed to manage several shippers on the same gas network, or to distinguish between natural gas transportation and sales functions. With the growing number of shippers on the transmission and distribution networks, each one must comply with balancing rules to ensure that an overall balance is maintained on a given gas system. To enforce these rules, the network managers must dispose of regularly updated information on the state of their system, both in global terms as in the past, but also for each of the players using its pipelines. ICTs are used to transmit the raw measurements and recordings performed throughout the network, notably at the grid entry and exit points. In a context where the short term tends to take priority, the periodicity chosen for the balancing rules (daily, as in France, or hourly as in Belgium or the Netherlands) has a major impact on IT and telecommunications infrastructures. M oreover, to comply with unbundling requirements, information systems must make a clear distinction between the transportation and sales functions. To this end Gaz de France has deployed the most recent and most advanced ICTs, to the benefit of both shippers and eligible customers. For example, regularly updated information on TPA conditions can be accessed on line via a dedicated Website. Likewise, shippers can consult and download the daily consumption characteristics of one or more sites (quantities delivered, natural gas qualities) via a secure access, etc. Lastly, the services offered by ICTs may form an integral part of the global supply offering. On the basis of data provided by network operators, natural gas suppliers can use ICTs to provide customers with an information service which is both comprehensive (for a given customer site: daily consumption characteristics, supply tariff applicable, invoices, histories, etc.) and adaptable (choice of time period for data calculations, choice of graphic presentation, etc.). Services of this kind may thus become a factor of differentiation and a key competitive 22 nd WGC Tokyo 2003 Task Force A : ICT Page 1/5 19/07/2003

2 argument. This is illustrated by the reaction of an industrial consumer and former Gaz de France customer who chose another supplier and who then complained about the subsequent loss of this service, previously provided under his supply contract with Gaz de France. Measurement of quantities delivered to domestic customers From July 2007, all customers in the European Union will be free to buy gas from the supplier of their choice. This means that operators will need to modernise meter reading operations while keeping costs to a minimum. Direct meter reading at the customer's home may be replaced by an "automatic" system with data transmission via a wire link, or by a "semiautomatic" radio system. Here, the problems raised do not concern the technology itself, but the technical and economic feasibility of its widespread deployment. In the meantime, other systems are being developed to improve the efficiency of traditional meter reading methods. A common difficulty is that of access to meters, especially in residential buildings whose doors are locked to meter readers. To remedy this problem, a new system, called Vigik, is being deployed in France to control the access of service providers to the common areas of residential buildings. Vigik is a tamper-proof system for temporary access authorization comprising four main components based on ICTs: a system for calculating access rights; a badge loading terminal; a badge that is reloaded every day according to the badge-holder's schedule of visits, and an electronic lock at the building entrance. This new technology reassures residents and has substantially reduced the number of meters that cannot be read due to inaccessibility. Trading The development of trading activities in the wake of market opening has also led to new ICT applications in the European gas industry. Alongside the major long-term agreements traditionally signed between natural gas producers and suppliers, deregulation has led to a growth in short-term transactions and the emergence of spot markets in Europe. Spot markets first developed at specific nodes on the network, at the junction between several supply chains (e.g.: Zeebrugge in Belgium; Emden-Oude-Bounde on the border between Germany and the Netherlands). After reaching a certain maturity, they then took the form of notional points (e.g.: the NBP in the United Kingdom which has replaced the physical exchange point at Bacton). As a natural gas supplier, Gaz de France, via its subsidiary Gaselys, trades on these new short-term markets, as well as on traditional financial markets such as the Brent market in London. Amid growing competition, these trading activities enable Gaz de France to (i) optimize its supply portfolio by adjusting volumes and minimizing costs, (ii) offer supply solutions tailored to the needs of major industrial customers (fixed prices or specific indexing mechanisms, use of options to cover price risks). In all cases, ICTs are used extensively to track electronically listed product prices in real time, to calculate trader positions, to check that predetermined risk thresholds are not exceeded, etc. 22 nd WGC Tokyo 2003 Task Force A : ICT Page 2/5 19/07/2003

3 Sale of associated services Though market opening is exerting pressure on supply prices, it is also encouraging marketers to develop new services, such as energy services associated with natural gas supply (e.g.: industrial or commercial boiler plant operation and maintenance, individual boiler maintenance, etc.) and facility management (technical building maintenance, reception desks, etc.). These activities, sometimes very new for the historical operators in the gas industry, are heavily reliant on ICTs: remote reading of periodic heating installation measurements; remote alarms when preset thresholds for safety of persons and property are exceeded; management of data logs, etc. Network operation and maintenance In France, in order to minimize third-party damage to transmission and distribution networks, all public works companies submit a prior declaration of work to the network operators. A M initel application was developed to simplify and accelerate this process, and declarations can now be submitted via the Internet. Likewise, in an effort to rationalize maintenance activities, notably under the pressure of the regulatory authority, gas companies are now using computer-aided maintenance management applications. M oreover, a long-standing wish on the part of network operators, namely the capability to locate stations and repair teams has now come true, with the development of an effective, practical, GPS solution available at a reasonable price. However, the use of computerized mapping to complement or even replace the use of paper maps is still facing major obstacles: conversion of the existing stock of maps, computer format and linking of new maps with existing computer maps. Remote management and remote working For energy distribution companies operating over a vast territory, it may be advantageous to set up a managerial system based on "virtual teams". One pragmatic approach of this kind concerns quality management: customer relations, key processes in service provision, actual provision of the service or product, supervision. The technologies used remove the constraints of space and time while enabling individuals to share subject to appropriate coordination a common production workspace and a common communication workspace. The technological dimension represents just one facet of this mode of operation. Hence, compared with a standard information system, the IS of a virtual team is characterized by the creation of a "groupware" infrastructure whose aim is to instrumentalize more so than in a conventional situation based on the physical presence of team members all interactions between team players. In short, two tools are needed: 22 nd WGC Tokyo 2003 Task Force A : ICT Page 3/5 19/07/2003

4 A "soft" asynchronous cooperative workspace, i.e., whose parameters can be set and modified by the team, for the organization of forums, documentary management bases, simple workflows; A synchronous cooperation tool, such as telephone conferencing for example. For easy transition from asynchronous to synchronous activities, the system includes a group agenda. In the initial phase, the asynchronous cooperative workplace will have to implement what creates the group dynamics and consequently what causes the IS to evolve towards its target. The aim is to build a "central square" crystallizing all problem situations revealed to the manager or by the manager, the methods used to resolve problems, etc. Modelling and numerical simulation of physical mechanisms ICTs are also useful in the field of research and development. With the growing complexity of experiments, and in some cases their total unfeasibility, it is often preferable or even necessary in terms of cost and performance to resort to modelling and numerical simulation. These methods and tools can be used to simulate the behaviour of a system under study and the physical mechanisms involved at its centre or its boundaries. The results obtained by numerical simulation are generally used firstly to validate the models. It is then possible, within the limits of validity of the model, to use the numerical results obtained to describe behaviours that cannot be tested in the laboratory (for reasons of cost or physical scale for example), in order to find ways of improving the modelled system or to resolve a given problem. The ICTs used in numerical simulation mainly concern scientific computing: calculation codes, tools for processing and viewing results, etc. In the gas industry, numerical simulation is used, for example, to calculate the thermal efficiency and environmental performance (CO 2 and NO x ) of glassmaking furnaces. While only certain aspects (combustion for example) can be measured in the laboratory, on-site testing in the plant is limited by industrial operating constraints (temperature levels around 1,500 C; size of the installation which can only be instrumented at a limited number of points, etc.). In such cases, modelling and numerical simulation are valuable tools for defining ways of improving performance: conversion to natural gas or dual-fuel operation (with natural gas) of a furnace previously running on heavy fuel oil; reduction in pollutant emissions, etc. Once an accurate model of the system has been developed, given the complexity of the physical mechanisms involved (combustion, fluid mechanics, thermal radiation in semi-transparent media), powerful computers are needed to simulate these mechanisms and to interpret the results obtained. Developments in information systems By contrast with the situation in the monopolistic past, gas companies are increasingly selective in their ICT investments. In countries where the energy market is fully open, less priority than in the past is given to innovation resulting from the use of ICTs. "Off-the-shelf" or skeletal solutions are replacing more specific applications. There are nevertheless exceptions to the rule, such as the call for tenders issued by an energy company 22 nd WGC Tokyo 2003 Task Force A : ICT Page 4/5 19/07/2003

5 for the management of its 28 million customers. Companies are discovering the advantages of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, which are quick to set in place and whose price is more predictable. This preference for standard or skeletal software applies even in core business applications such as customer relationship management. The demands of competition and its repercussions on financing capacity are forcing energy companies to manage composite information systems (combinations of different applications developed at different times). This raises the question of SI component replacement (interoperability) which is preferable to a hypothetical renewal of the entire system. In major French companies (EDF and Gaz de France, but also France Telecom), old core business applications are still in use because the new systems that could replace them are either difficult to set in place or unattractive in terms of capabilities. Yet the gap is widening between the abundance of technical options and the expression of needs. The expression of needs is less mature than the technologies. This creates a paradox: many fields have problems for which no satisfactory solutions have been found, while at the same time we do not know how to make best use of the new technologies now available to us. Companies often have to "digest" new products before understanding their true advantages. Uses are quickly found for certain ICTs (GPS for example, for the location of stations and repair teams, [see above], or of LNG tankers), while others meet with much less success (structured databases for project management for example, which may be well exploited at the start of a project, but which may also suffer from a growing lack of interest on the part of users, who are soon tempted to return to more traditional practices). Lastly and paradoxically, at a time when energy monopolies are disappearing in the face of open market competition, energy companies often work with software editors that are monopolistic (Microsoft) or to which they are bound over the long term (SAP). In time, this issue will probably grow in importance. Businesses and not just in the energy sector will seek to free themselves from these ties and may well be tempted by new, completely different techniques (such as proprietary solutions) that offer promise of greater autonomy. 22 nd WGC Tokyo 2003 Task Force A : ICT Page 5/5 19/07/2003