Dispatch Automation (v1.1)

Dispatches are signals from the Leap platform about a grid event. A dispatch event is a request for an individual meter or group of meters to curtail (or export in some cases) energy during a defined time period. A Leap dispatch notification could contain one or many of these unique dispatch events within it.

Responding to dispatches in a timely and consistent manner is essential to achieving high performance during grid events and maximizing revenue potential.

Dispatch automation with Leap enables you to integrate once and scale to all available markets and programs. While there are differences between each program, Leap simplifies implementation by providing a common dispatch notification structure so that your dispatch processing logic can be leveraged across all markets.

Dispatch Structure

A dispatch has two top-level components:

• Recipient: The Meter or Group responsible for responding to the dispatch event
• Timeslot(s): The dispatch time period as well as additional details about the service required during that time period

Recipient (Meter or Market Group)

You can choose to receive dispatches at the meter or market group level:

Group Dispatching Considerations:

• You must keep your internal groups in-sync with Leap. As described in the guide, you can use the market_group_id in the meters API endpoints to guide the provisioning process in your system.
• The dispatch event notification will include both the group ID and the list of your meter IDs which are part of that group. The energy curtailment awarded should be distributed across this group of meters.

Timeslots

A timeslot describes the details of a dispatch. It includes the start and end time, energy quantity, and other metadata. Additional details on these fields can be found later in this guide.

JSON

{
      "meter_id": "afce893d-ea68-487f-9f8c-778b1881f60a",
      "timeslots": [
        {
          "start_time": "2022-06-02T00:00:00Z",
          "end_time": "2022-06-02T01:00:00Z",
          "test_event": false,
          "energy_kw": 4,
          "market_type": "day-ahead",
          "cancelled": false,
          "programs": [
             "DRAM"
          ]
        }
      ]
}

Notification Methods

There are multiple options for receiving these dispatch notifications. The Leap API provides both push and pull models below:

• Webhook Push Notifications - Leap pushes notifications to your webhook endpoint as soon as they are available
• Dispatch Event Polling - You poll the relevant Leap dispatch endpoint on a regular basis checking for new updates

Webhook Push

• Meter Level
  • Get / Set / Delete your webhook URL
  • Trigger test notification to your webhook URL
• Group Level
  • Get / Set / Delete your group webhook URL
  • Trigger test notification to your group webhook URL

Polling

• Meter Level
  • Search Dispatches - For retrieving dispatch events broken out at an individual meter/site level
• Group Level
  • Search Group Dispatches - For retrieving dispatch events by groups of aggregated meters/sites

Types of Events

There are many conditions that can lead to a dispatch event. Each event notification you receive could represent one or more of these types. Understanding each type helps you create a workflow that fits your system.

Market/Program Awards vs. Capacity Tests

Market/Program Awards

• Clearing in a wholesale energy marketplace will trigger a market award (dispatch event) for a meter or group.
• Market/grid operators and utilities can also initiate awards (dispatch events) based on program rules or emergency events.

Capacity Tests

• Many programs require meters to demonstrate the full extent of their capabilities. Depending on the program, capacity tests may be called at the discretion of the market operator or scheduled in advance by Leap.
• Capacity tests are important events as performance during these events correlates to capacity revenue payments.

A dispatch event can be both a Capacity Test and one or more Market/Program Awards.

Dispatch Event Processing

Multiple Events Within a Notification

Within the meter_dispatches (webhook) or results (event polling) arrays in the dispatch notifications will be objects that include the meter/group IDs along with their associated event timeslots array. Always assume each array could have multiple objects within it (e.g. multiple meter ID/timeslots objects within the notification and multiple timeslot objects within each timeslots array).