Atrias Selects Accenture to Centralize Belgium’s Energy Market Data in the Cloud

From Accenture:

Atrias Selects Accenture to Centralize Belgium’s Energy Market Data in the Cloud

 
BRUSSELS; Dec. 16, 2015 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has been selected by Atrias, a joint initiative of Belgium’s six electricity and gas distribution grid operators, to build, deploy and manage a single clearing house application to help centralize and structure data exchange among the Belgian energy sector players.
 
This new market model will help Belgian utilities to prepare for the low-carbon energy transition and the digitization of the sector by supporting new developments like smart meters and rising decentralized power-generation. The realization of a single central clearing house will increase cost efficiency by enabling grid operators to share fixed IT infrastructure costs, simplify compliance, improve process transparency and standardize processes for the exchange of information between all market parties.
 
“In a rapidly changing energy marketplace, there’s a need in Belgium to manage our energy distribution and related data in a more efficient and flexible way. Moving to one central market model, will enable valuable synergies between network operators and energy retailers, which can help facilitate the creation of new customer products and services and boost competition,” said Stéphane D’hose, program manager at Atrias. “We selected Accenture to manage this project based on its consulting track record in the utilities industry, as well as its experience with transformational system implementation and its knowledge of the proposed software solutions.”
 
Accenture’s consultants helped Atrias navigate the technology ecosystem to select solutions that most suited the organization’s business needs. Accenture will implement the Ferranti MECOMS meter data management and customer information system and deploy on top of it an integration layer webMethods of Software AG’s new Digital Business Platform. These components will run on a private cloud delivered by Proximus, based in two of their highly secured data centers in Belgium. It will then work with Avanade to implement a public cloud solution from Microsoft Azure, underpinned by theAccenture Cloud Platform, to migrate and consolidate the energy market data into one clearing hub.
 
“This project will create a centralized and flexible solution that will enable Atrias to manage the Belgian energy market data in a more efficient and transparent way, using real-time information,” said Eric Jost, managing director, Accenture’s utilities industry group in Belgium and Luxemburg. “With ever-increasing complexity in grid operations and more demand from customers for personalized products and services, a cloud-first solution will allow new market dynamics and value creation through an improved energy market model.”
 

About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 358,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
 
Accenture is a leader in helping organizations move to the cloud to take advantage of a new era of service delivery and flexibility, where applications, infrastructure and business processes are brought together and delivered As-a-Service. Accenture’s Cloud First agenda offers comprehensive, industry-focused cloud services including strategy, implementation, migration and managed services, and assets including the Accenture Cloud Platform that can drive broader transformational programs for clients. Accenture has worked on more than 13,000 cloud computing projects for clients, including three-quarters of the Fortune Global 100, and has more than 18,000 professionals trained in cloud computing.
 
About Atrias
In a rapidly changing energy landscape, Atrias acts as a neutral, objective consultation platform for the energy network operators, suppliers and regional regulators. Atrias strives to prepare the Belgian energy market for new developments in the energy domain (smart meters, increasing local production) and to provide answers on the accompanying challenges. In the liberalized energy market, the focus of Atrias is, on an approach of consultation, to develop and to optimize the market processes. The normalization and standardization of procedures for the exchange of information between market parties, are part of it. The realization of a Central Clearing House for the Belgian market, a technical platform for structuring and exchanging data between the Belgian energy sector players, is its medium term objective.
 

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