Software
As far as we can determine, the first high-stakes clock auction ever to operate was the Electricité de France Generation Capacity Auction in September 2001. It was implemented on the PowerAuction™ software platform.
Since then, a majority of the high-stakes clock auctions, worldwide, have been conducted on the PowerAuction™ software platform.
The functionality of the PowerAuction™ software platform has been constantly enhanced and the software is now in its third version. The development of the software platform began in 2000 for a prototype auction for Spectrum Exchange Group LLC. Unfortunately, the Spectrum Exchange auction, a descending-clock auction for clearing encumbered telecommunications spectrum, never had the opportunity to run. However, the undertaking by Electricité de France to the European Commission to conduct quarterly virtual power plant auctions beginning in 2001 provided an opportunity to complete the PowerAuction™ software platform and to operate it commercially for an important high-stakes auction. This was followed quickly by the first environmental auction conducted on the PowerAuctionTM software platform, the UK Emissions Trading Scheme Auction for greenhouse gas emission reductions in March 2002, and the first gas sector auction conducted on the PowerAuction™ software platform, the annual E.ON Ruhrgas Gas Release Programme Auction, beginning in July 2003.
Version 3 of the PowerAuction™ software platform was unveiled in the second half of 2006. The annual DONG Energy Gas Release Programme Auction in Denmark, the quarterly Endesa-Iberdrola Virtual Power Plant Auctions in Spain, and the recent E.ON Virtual Power Plant Auction in Germany were all introduced on Version 3 of the software platform. In addition, the annual E.ON Földgáz Trading Gas Release Programme Auction in Hungary and the annual E.ON Ruhrgas Gas Release Programme Auction in Germany have been migrated to Version 3; and the EDF Generation Capacity Auction is scheduled to be migrated to Version 3 in time for its 26th quarterly auction. Finally, the Forward Capacity Auction for ISO-New England in the Northeastern US will be implemented on Version 3 of the PowerAuctionTM software platform in February 2008.
The PowerAuction™ software platform is secure, robust and can be customized for most advanced auction applications. At recent count, 49 high-stakes clock auctions had been implemented on the PowerAuction™ software platform — more high-stakes auctions than have been conducted on all of our competitors’ platforms combined.