ZE PowerGroup and Adapt2 Provide an Integrated Custom ISO Scheduling and Settlement System for ERCOT Nodal Market Transactions

ZE PowerGroup Inc ^® (ZE) announced its collaborative development with Adapt2 Solutions, Inc. to create an integrated scheduling and settlement support system for clients preparing for the ERCOT Nodal transition. The engagement is designed to combine Adapt2's deep market knowledge and software development capabilities with ZE's expertise in market data collection and integration.

ZEMA's scheduling engine, the Data Manager, is being used as the middleware component to Adapt2's ISO Scheduling and Settlement framework. The overall system is initially targeted for the upcoming ERCOT nodal market launch but is readily applied to any ISO market.




ZEMA provides a scheduling interface for Adapt2 to send and receive Market Transactions amongst other datasets within the ERCOT Nodal framework. Data capture and posting includes:

• Energy Trades - Bilateral
• Ancillary Services
• Congestion Revenue Rights Offers
• Capacity Trades
• DAM (Day Ahead Market) and RTM Energy Bids - Awards
• RUCs - Charge Management
• Month to Date Settlement Reporting - Daily Drill Down

The overall service complies with the secure communication protocol developed by ERCOT and allows for confirmation of each transaction within the clients existing ETRM.



Waleed El-Ramly, COO Product Development at ZE PowerGroup states, "This collaboration makes sense for both of us. We are familiar with Adapt2 and have worked together on other accounts. They understand the nodal market requirements from both a systems and client standpoint. Using ZEMA we provide them the tools that they can leverage to post and return transactions and settlements data back to their solution. We facilitate trade activities and the overall settlements calculations." Francisco Diaz, President of Adapt2, adds, "ZE is a dominant market player when it comes to data acquisition and enterprise solutions, they know how to handle information of any type. The client benefits with best of both worlds through a robust and also cost effective solution created by two strong software providers."

ZE and Adapt2 have already introduced the new system to the market and are currently in the testing phase of implementation by their collective clients. For detailed information on services relating to the management of ERCOT's Nodal transition, contact a ZEMA representative today.

The Energy and Commodity Data Conference to Become a Premier Global Annual Event

The response from the User Forum and Data Management Conference has been very positive and ZE is looking forward to making this annual event the premier global energy and commodity data conference.

Most of attendees gave a very positive feedback saying that it was a very interesting and useful event. They described the function as a productive way to share ideas and to learn more about ZEMA software. Their appreciation of the great hospitality of Vancouver was notably acknowledged. Sample feedback from the events:

"I just wanted to thank you for the Conference. It was a very interesting event with a lot of diverse presenters and it helped us understand better the potential for our use of the ZEMA product going forward."

"I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for organizing such a great conference. It was a productive way to share ideas and learn from the best in the industry. It also provided in-depth exposure to the ZEMA products and services in order to for us to enhance the value it brings to our organization. It was a pleasure to meet the ZE Power organization and we look forward to our continued partnership. Please pass along my thanks to everyone who made the conference such a success!"

"It was my pleasure to talk about your software. Hope to be partners with you for years to come."

"Thank you for providing us with a sponsorship opportunity and allowing us to participate in a panel discussion. What a nice event, congratulations!"

"I very much appreciate the hospitality in showing me your home city and hosting us for the ZEMA User Conference. The sushi was great but enjoyed getting to know one another even more."

"...it was great to meet you and your colleagues last week, thank you very much for the invite. We respect the spirit and professionalism of everyone at ZE. We look forward to continuing our progress with ZE and we are confident we can accomplish great things together."

"Thank you for your hospitality in Vancouver!"

"That was very useful and productive conference."

2010 ZEMA User Forum and Enterprise Data Management Conference Successfully Ended

Last week many attendees of the ZEMA User Forum and Enterprise Data Management Conference said good bye to Vancouver and returned home. The exciting events brought together friends and colleagues within the energy and commodities industries for a valuable information exchange and networking opportunity. Many were happy to join us and share their insights with the experts in the industry. The events were also filled with corporate functions and social events with non-profit benefits, and as most agreed, their time was well-spent. The events were well received and created energy for the future ideas and projects.



The User Forum's first day was opened by a welcome speech from Dr. Zak El-Ramly, the CEO, president and founder of ZE PowerGroup. Following Dr. El-Ramly, the ZE IT group gave a few presentations where users were engaged and sessions were overall interactive. New product demonstrations included ZEMA Dashboard, ZEMA Data Validation, and the new ZEMA Curve Manager add-on. The ZEMA users' discussions were focused on the challenges of managing broker data feeds and the frequent data format changes associated with them. The second day of the User Forum was hosted by the ZE Consulting Group and was filled with the demonstrations of ZEMA Market Analyzer's tool capabilities with a focus on Forward Curve capabilities. During the discussion, the users provided a few new ideas and suggestions that will help to make some interesting improvements and additions to the ZEMA Suite of Products.

Among the Conference speakers were

• Aiman El-Ramly, Senior Vice President Strategy, ZE PowerGroup Inc.


• Alex Melekhin, Director of Analytics, ZE PowerGroup Inc.


• Alex Zhukovsky, Director Quantitative Risk, National Grid


• Anup Singh, Director Global Markets, Sapient


• Bjorn Hagalmann, COO, MRE Consulting


• Daniel Brummer, Director of Alliances, Allegro Development Corporation


• David Linton, Chief Executive, Updata


• Don Jefferis, Partner, Opportune LLP


• Dr. Zak El-Ramly, President and CEO, ZE PowerGroup Inc.


• Larry Heitkemper, Vice President and Director Weather Services, MDA Earthsat Weather


• Manal El-Ramly, Director Eastern Office, ZE PowerGroup Inc.


• Michal Peliwo, Manager, Product Development, ZEMA Suite


• Olga Gorstenko, Manager, Consulting, ZE PowerGroup Inc.


• Ross Allen, Washington Bureau Chief, Argus Media Inc.


• Sam Wilhelm, Director Business Development, SolArc Inc.


• Spencer Gallagher, Senior Director, Reference Data Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data, Interactive Data Corporation


• Tatum Vittengl, Sales Executive, Weather Service International (Weather Channel)


• Tim Almdal, Enterprise Architect, ZEMA Suite


• Timothy Hebert, Vice President Energy Operations, Energy New England

The Conference ended Thursday night with a closing speech by Dr. Zak El-Ramly, where he thanked all who attended the events. For more information about these two exciting events that took place in Vancouver, BC, October 24-27 please visit ZE Conference Organizers.

ZEMA: The No Compromise Solution

The ZEMA Suite™ is an Enterprise Data Management (EDM) and Analysis solution designed to align and manage your corporate data needs. Built specifically for the energy and commodities markets, ZEMA is a highly recognized and respected software solution leader that continues to help organizations of all sizes handle the challenges of data management and integration in evolving and complex markets...

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Distributed Resource Planning: Intelligent Utility

UTILITIES CONTINUE TO FIND INNOVATIVE WAYS TO AVOID building out new infrastructure or at least to delay the cost of doing so. More often than not, those strategies involve turning to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, fuel cells and advanced energy storage...

["Intelligent Utility Magazine September/October 2010"]

via Distributed Resource Planning (Intelligent Utility).

2010 Commodity Business Awards Voting

ZE PowerGroup^® has been shortlisted for the 2010 Commodity Business Awards. If you would like to vote for ZEMA, it is very simple and quick – you only need to click on this link: Commodity Business Awards.

Once there scroll down a bit and click on Data Management which is located under Commodity Market Development (the link will expand once you click on the words) and select “ZE PowerGroup / ZEMA”. Then you only have to enter your name, company, email and sector. You are also entered in to win an iPad on the site. Voting is now open and concludes on Friday October 22nd, 2010.

LDC Gas Forums: The Art of Risk Management by Dr. Zak El-Ramly

The LDC Gas Forums ™, comprised of five regional conferences held annually in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Canada, are the events where the Natural Gas Industry professionals meet. Each conference brings together hundreds of specialists to discuss vital regional and national issues affecting all aspects of natural gas marketplace. This year ZE PowerGroup^® sponsored all five conferences and and had one of its key experts speak there.

This year the 6th Annual LDC Gas Forums™ event for the Rockies & West was held from October 11th through October 13th in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Zak El-Ramly, President and CEO of ZE PowerGroup Inc., took part at LDC this year, and presented "The Art of Risk Management". Dr. El-Ramly started by providing a short introduction on ZE and then went into the ZEMA Suite of Products and ZE's recent awards. He also highlighted the major areas of ZE expertise.

Dr. El-Ramly explained the different sources of a modern market risk. He said that risk is the effect of uncertainty on objectives - whether positive or negative. "Market risk encompasses all aspects of elective operations. The environment in which you elect to participate in defines your risk," Dr. El-Ramly emphasized. Then he classified risk: it can be internal versus external business factors, predictable or random, controllable or non-controllable, quantifiable or not, insurable.

One of the most interesting topics of Dr. El-Ramly's speech was his view of the manageability of extreme risks. According to Dr. El-Ramly, extremes often weed the system and leave the strong ones but, by their nature, extremes pass by and we return to more normal conditions. He recommended planning to last through extremes while avoiding making decisions that assumes the extreme risks are here to stay.

Concerning managing business risk, Dr. El-Ramly advises that, "Managing business is a continuous act of making compromises. There is no perfect information, defined path or clear recipe for rights and wrongs. We manage by trial and error and consequently face failures and successes. The key to overall success is to be cognizant that the wrong will happen and trials will fail and to act prudently to limit the downside of failure while propelling during success."

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About Dr. Zak El-Ramly:
With a PhD in mechanical engineering, Dr. Zak El-Ramly has over 40 years experience in the energy industry and has held several executive/managerial positions with BC Hydro. He was the Executive Vice President of Marketing for Powerex, and is currently President and CEO of ZE PowerGroup Inc. and ZE Power Engineering Inc. Dr. El-Ramly is a participant in many industry organizations, expert in market competition, and exceptionally proficient in tooling clients with software solutions.