Use of the NII to study impacts of new technologies and policies on supply and demand of electric power

This paper describes a proposal to use an implementation of client-server technology on the Internet for simulating a number of aspects of electric power production, distribution, and consumption within a wholly new regulatory, financing, operating, and control environment. This approach would use a large number of people to generate strategies and decisions, in a real-time context, needed to drive the simulation. A World Wide Web server would provide background information about the simulation for those who chose to participate as actors in one of supported roles. Roles would be based on activities associated with different business areas and would include utility manager, independent power producer (entrepreneur), electric power futures trader, electric power futures investor, electric power wheeler, industrial customer, commercial customer, and residential customer. The simulation program would run on a system of high-performance computers (parallel computer system) that communicate between each other on a high speed communications bus. These computers would also be the server systems for the client programs used by the actors. People who want to be actors would be required to register before being given a client program, as a way to have some control over the simulation results. Each role will have its corresponding client program with graphical user interface. Each client program will support a common view of the simulation results and a role specific view.