Migrating resource commitment from mainframe to PC

A medium-term unit commitment program is critical to the power operation group of a typical power utility. For the Arizona Public Service Company (APS) this means: a 2-to-5 day study period; up to 40 generators; and up to 20 sales/purchases. The original resource commitment system (RES) was envisioned to run on the real time energy management system computer. For many reasons the package was better suited to the corporate mainframe. As overall corporate computer demand was growing at a faster pace than the capability of the corporate mainframe, so turn-around times for typical RES runs were getting longer. APS decided to move RES to a PC platform. To accomplish this, the decision was made to migrate to an OS/2 platform using IBM PS/2, some 80286 and some 80486 based, connected using an Ethernet local area network. The new RES program, the user interface, the conversion of the source code to C, and the conversion of the database are discussed.<>