The Structure Group Announces nMarket(TM) Product To Support New England Standard Market Design

Market Wire, 20050229

The Structure Group, an international software and consulting company providing integrated solutions for the deregulated energy industry, announces the availability of its nMarket(TM) software product to address upcoming changes in the New England energy marketplace due to the introduction of Standard Market Design (SMD) for wholesale electricity markets.

"We will use the lessons learned from our current New England, PJM and New York nMarket(TM) products to ensure that we continue to provide world-class solutions to our customers," Structure's New England product marketing manager Bob Furry said. "Our product reduces the complexity of our customer's ISO New England integration efforts and minimizes their risk associated with upcoming market trials, allowing them to focus on their core merchant energy trading business. We are well positioned to deliver the best solution for the New England marketplace."

The New England SMD market will include day-ahead and real-time energy, regulation service, increment offers, decrement and demand bids, financial transmission rights, internal bilateral and external transactions and an installed capacity market. Market participants will be eligible for uplift (make-whole) payments when ISO dispatch instructions do not allow generators to fully recover minimum generation, start-up and incremental operating costs. Locational marginal pricing (LMP) will be utilized to manage transmission congestion and allocate losses. Both the day-ahead and real-time energy markets will be settled hourly.

Structure's nMarket(TM) product will fully support ISO New England's bid-based market and the estimation and verification of settlements. The first release of the product will be available in advance of the market trials, currently scheduled for September 14, 2002. A second release of the product will be made available in support of the December 1, 2002, market launch.

Currently, five industry-leading energy companies use nMarket(TM) New England to manage their ISO New England business transactions. In addition, a sixth major New England participant recently chose The Structure Group and nMarket(TM) to support its SMD-related efforts.

"We see our New England SMD product launch as the evolution of our commitment to provide high-value solutions to our customers in all North American markets," Structure vice president Lelon Winstead said. "As the markets evolve, so do our products and services. The fact that industry leaders have relied on nMarket(TM) New England is a strong statement about the functionality, reliability and flexibility of our solution."

About The Structure Group

The Structure Group is a leading provider of energy trading business solutions and consulting services to market participants in North America and Europe. Established in 1998, Structure has experience working with top-tier organizations in all stages of the energy value chain. Structure offers expertise in trading and risk management, forecasting, scheduling and energy management, as well as market settlements, settlement verification and dispute management. Structure's client list includes many of the top 50 global power marketers and the major independent system operators in North America.

Structure introduced nMarket(TM) in 2000. The product assists energy organizations with the bidding, scheduling, dispatch and settlement of energy trades and ancillary services in regional power markets. Power marketers who participate in the California, ERCOT, New England, New York, PJM and Ontario markets are currently using the product.

Structure's client list includes the California ISO, ERCOT and ISO New England, and AES New Energy, Calpine, Coral Energy, Dynegy, El Paso Merchant Energy, Exelon, FP&L Energy, NRG Energy, PG&E National Energy Group, Reliant Energy, TXU and Williams Energy Marketing and Trading.

The company was recently recognized as the sixth fastest-growing private company in Houston by the city's business journal. In addition, CEO David Hallam was recognized as one of Northern California's top entrepreneurs in 2001 in Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year awards program. Structure has offices in Houston, San Francisco and London. For more information about The Structure Group, visit www.thestructuregroup.com or contact us directly at media@scgo.com.

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