Bidding and dispatch pre-production release FAQs

The pre-production environment will be available to participants from 30 November 2020. AEMO will provide instructions for connecting to this environment on the Participant Testing webpage.

However, participants who already have access to this environment can log into the web portal and new API service using the same username and password.

If a participant doesn’t currently have access to AEMO’s Pre-Production environment or doesn’t know their password, they will need to contact their organisation’s MSATS Participant Administrator.

The Dispatch systems in the pre-production environment will reflect the Dispatch transitional functionality that will go-live on 1 April 2021. It will not reflect the full functionality that will be available in production from 1 October 2021.

The Functional Deployment Matrix provides a detailed list of the 5MS and GS capabilities that will be available in AEMO’s pre-production and production environments.

The pre-production environment for each component of the Wholesale and Retail streams will reflect the upcoming mode of operation for that component.

From 30 November until5 July 2021, participants can use this environment to submit either 30-minute or five-minute bids. If participants choose to submit five-minute bids, they must submit six identical bids within a 30-minute period, effectively simulating a 30-minute bid.

The 5MS Functional Deployment Matrix will indicate when MSATS, Settlements and Bidding/Dispatch will be in a 30-minute state, five-minute state, and subsequently Global Settlement state, where applicable. 

AEMO’s five-minute capable bidding systems will go-live inApril 2021. However, the NEM rules do not allow five-minute bids to commence until 1 October 2021.

To provide participants with flexibility to implement according to their own timelines in advance of 1 October 2021, AEMO has established a transition window from 1 April 2021 to 30 September 2021. During this time, the market systems will be able to accept and process five-minute bids and 30-minute bids. However, market results and settlement will remain in 30-minute intervals.

To achieve this, participants choosing to submit five-minute bids should submit six identical five-minute bids for each 30-minute period.

For more information on the Bidding Transition Plan see the Industry Readiness Strategy webpage.

Support for the pre-production environment is available during business hours and will be provided through AEMO’s Support Hub:

1. Online (preferred): https://www.aemo.com.au/Contact-us.
2. Phone: 1300 236 600

While there are no Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for the pre-production environment, AEMO will make best efforts to respond as soon as possible.

No, AEMO does not co-ordinate testing activities during the Industry test period as this is an opportunity for participants to test their organisation’s changes with AEMO’s market systems in readiness for the production release.

However, AEMO is responsible for coordinating Market Trials, which includes developing business process scenarios. Market Trials will commence on 5 July 2021 using AEMO’s pre-production environment.

In a nutshell, Industry testing is a participant led activity and can take place at any time once the functionality is available in the selected environment, whereas Market Trials is AEMO led and is scheduled for a specific period.

Industry testing allows participants to test the functionality of their organisation’s systems with AEMO’s market systems to ensure connectivity and expected system behaviour.

Market Trials will consist of the coordinated multi-party end-to-end testing of business process scenarios, which are developed by AEMO. 

The strategy for each capability release has been developed in consultation with Industry and is documented in the Industry Test and Market Trial Strategy.

No, participants will not be impacted by any scheduled outages during the cutover process for this release.

No, if you are subscribed to both legacy and current then you will be unsubscribed from legacy after a few days. If you have only subscribed to legacy, no changes will be made.

AEMO has purposely left a few days in between the milestones for completing Industry Testing and the go-live of MDM, Settlements and Dispatch to perform all the required activities and deal with any issues that may arise. 

Note – participants may carry out testing in the pre-production environment outside of the Industry Test period.