PSR Background

Power Systems Research Inc. (PSRI) has been providing consulting and R&D services in Latin and North America, Europe and Asia since 1987. We specialize in the development of computational tools for system planning and operation under uncertainty and competition, engineering-economic evaluation, development and implementation of new regulatory schemes and integrated water resource management.

Areas of Expertise

PSRI professionals have developed new methods and have extensive international experience in four core areas:

1) computational model development - PSRI has developed an evolving array of software tools in the areas of transmission-constrained probabilistic production costing, optimal hydrothermal scheduling, generation-transmission expansion planning under uncertainty and competition, calculation of wheeling rates and nodal transmission tariffs, VAr planning and ancillary service pricing, composite G&T reliability evaluation and integrated water resources management. All models run on PCs and workstations. Particular attention is paid to user needs such as data management and graphical user interfaces. These software tools have been implemented in several countries of Latin and North America, Europe and Asia, under contract with local agents or multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Here you can find a brief description of our computational models.

2) regulatory studies - PSRI has participated in the design of new regulatory frameworks for Brazil, Colombia,El Salvador, Venezuela and South China, including nodal transmission tariffs, capacity fees, demand side bidding, transmission congestion contracts, integrated wholesale markets for water and energy, bidding schemes in hydrothermal systems, interconnection of countries with diverse regulatory schemes and identification of market power. Here you can find a summary description of some of our regulatory projects.

3) electricity/gas engineering-economic studies - PSRI has carried out engineering-economic evaluation studies of several large projects in South America, including the scoping study for gas/electricity interconnection of ten South American countries (150,000 MW of total installed capacity), the 2,000 MW Brazil-Argentina interconnection, the sale of Gerasul (5,000 MW) and CESP utilities (11,000 MW), gas interconnections between Bolivia-Brazil, Argentina-Uruguay and Argentina-Brazil, integrated generation and transmission sizing and siting studies for thermal plants in Bolivia, hydro and thermal projects in several regions of Brazil and the evaluation of hydro versus imported LNG projects in Brazil's Northeast region. Here you can find a summary description of some of our regulatory projects.

4) integrated water resources management - PSRI has developed methodologies and tools for multivariate stochastic streamflow modeling at the monthly/weekly levels and new concepts and methodologies for the allocation of water rights in a river basin, for example for hydro power production, irrigation, industrial uses etc. These include the calculation of water values per delivery site, the development of the "wholesale water market" concept, which complements the "wholesale energy markets" in competitive power systems and the implementation of sustainable water purchase schemes for irrigation projects. Here you can find a summary description of some of our projects in this area.

Clients

PSRI has clients from over twenty countries, including: (a) energy investors such as AES, Enron, Endesa, Iberdrola, Intergen etc.; (b) oil/gas companies such as BP Amoco, Shell, Unocal etc.; (c) multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, IDB, OLADE and others; (d) regulators, power exchanges and ISOs from several countries. Here you can find a partial listing of our clients and the type of activity carried out for each of them.

Professional Staff

PSRI has offices in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Portland Oregon and New York City (USA). A small core technical staff is supported by a large contingent of independent consultants.

Strategic Partnerships

PSRI has developed strategic partnerships with engineering-economic consulting companies in a wide range of power system areas, including Cepel (Brazil), deBarr (Venezuela), Estudios Energeticos (Colombia), Mercados Energéticos (Argentina) and Synex (Chile).