The previous entries presented the ideas that the cost of preparing auction bids in Excel has become difficult to ignore, and that a sensible replacement has four properties: a persistent order structure, integrated data, a flexible view of position, and built-in validation.
The next question is what such a tool actually looks like.
Brady’s solution is PowerDesk. A trader sitting in front of PowerDesk sees the desk’s position across every short-term power market it operates in, whether on EPEX or Nord Pool, in a single place, updated in real time.
The view is built on a portfolio structure that the desk configures to its own logic. Some desks prefer a flat list of six or twelve assets; others, particularly those operating across several bidding zones, build a hierarchy five or six levels deep, aggregating leaves into branches and branches into a single submission. The structure of the desk’s thinking is reflected in PowerDesk, rather than the other way round.
Sitting alongside the structure is a set of safeguards. Volume limits: maximum buy, maximum sell, minimum buy, minimum sell, can be set at any node in the hierarchy. A limit on the whole portfolio, a limit on wind in a particular zone, a limit on a single asset; the desk decides where the safeguards belong. When an auction order is constructed, the system checks it against those limits before submission, and raises an objection if something has gone wrong, rather than it being discovered in settlement.
In PowerDesk, the desk specifies how its order is built; which assets feed in, how they aggregate, and this definition persists.
PowerDesk’s customers are benefitting from this today; talk to us and see how we can save you time and help you optimise your portfolio the way you want. Reach out here.
