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Southern California Edison 'Trades Up' to SAS for Accurate Energy Forecasting
Green Technology Featured Articles
May 07, 2013

Southern California Edison 'Trades Up' to SAS for Accurate Energy Forecasting

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

Because energy trading opens with the financial markets, analysts and meteorologists at Southern California Edison (News - Alert) (SCE) — the primary electric utility serving southern California— are on the job each day at 4 a.m., running forecasts for weather, short-term loads, and renewables output.


Energy, such as crude oil, coal, natural gas and renewable power, is traded as a commodity.  Energy trading also covers the management of the movement and delivery of energy commodities, as well as the mitigation of associated risks.

With the increase of wind and solar resources and the high penetration of smart meters in the California market, the business of energy forecasting has become increasingly complex. However, gathering quality data for analysis no longer needs to be labor-intensive. With enterprise software from Cary, North Carolina-based SAS (News - Alert) Analytics, Southern California Edison can integrate data from a wide variety of sources and extract crucial insights for decision making. Model development, data analysis, reporting and visualization are now all accomplished via a single integrated software platform — streamlining the load and price forecasting process.

Indeed, more enterprises worldwide rely on SAS advanced analytics than on any other brand by a large margin, according to the “Business Analytics Software 2012-2016 Forecast and 2011 Vendor Shares” report , released by  New York City-based IDC (News - Alert), an IT research firm.  Specifically, SAS' share of the advanced analytics segment was 35.2 percent in 2011, up from 34.8 percent in 2010, according to IDC. That was more than the entire share of the remaining advanced analytic vendors named. IBM (News - Alert), in second place, held just 16.8 percent.

IDC also named SAS a top five provider in numerous business analytics categories, including business intelligence tools, data warehouse platforms, performance management applications, end-user query/reporting tools, data warehouse generation software and supply chain analytics.

The business analytics software market grew 14.1 percent in 2011, according to IDC, which forecasts a 9.8 percent compound annual growth rate through 2016

"For many years, organizations viewed information technology as a cost center. That perception is rapidly changing as corporate leaders realize the benefits of analytics. Enterprises increasingly understand that analytic insights can make IT a business driver [that] boosts the bottom line," said Jim Davis, SAS senior vice president and CMO.


Image courtesy of SAS Analytics

Big Data

Progress comes fast at Southern California Edison. With some 5 million newly installed smart meters poised to usher in big data, the forecasting team will gain access to smart grid analysis this year. Terabytes of detailed customer data will help the utility to further improve short-term forecasts.

"With new volumes of data from smart grid devices and meters come greater opportunities for utilities to modernize their energy planning with analytics," said Alyssa Farrell, global manager of Energy and Sustainability Solutions at SAS. "Large utilities such as Southern California Edison, as well as small utilities, are applying SAS Analytics to operations, customer service and renewables for smarter planning and better business results."

"SAS helped us modernize," said Raymond Johnson, principal manager of Demand and Price Forecasting at Southern California Edison. "Having more integrated data and models helps us avoid operational errors and speed up the creation of forecasts, which in turn allows us to spend more time reviewing results and making any necessary changes. Since completing the SAS implementation in December 2012, our forecasters now have greater flexibility on improving model performance, reviewing forecasted results and running reports."




Edited by Blaise McNamee


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