Abstract: Certain embodiments include a method and apparatus for a computing system supporting transactions involving fungible, ephemeral commodities including electrical power, the transmission of electrical power, trading such commodities to create commitments, scheduling and settling those commitments. Certain embodiments include a market engine supporting not only a virtual trading floor, but also biloteral trading and external market trading by certified clients of the system. Certain embodiments include databases and database engines coupling at least some of the market engine, scheduling engine and settlement engine. Certain embodiments support Web site support.

Abstract: The basic idea is to present bids and offers from several geographically distributed markets to a market participant as if they were all in a single market at the location where the participant wants to deliver or take delivery.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for bundling transmission rights and energy for trading allows participants to enter bids for complete energy and transmission rights bundles that they wish to buy and offers for the complete bundles that they wish to sell through a user interface. An optimization system is provided that continuously searches for ways to disassemble the bundles that participants wish to sell into their component elements (transmission rights and energy) and reassembles them into bundles that participants wish to buy. Any time that a set of bundles that participants wish to sell can be reassembled into a set of bundles that other customers wish to buy, and the aggregate bids for the new bundles exceeds the aggregate offers for the old bundles, the optimization system contracts orders for the bundles and performs the disassembly and reassembly. The invention provides a participant with a ex ante quote for any point-to-point transmission right at any time.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed for using a transaction system involving fungible, ephemeral commodities including electrical power, the transmission of electrical power, trading such commodities, managing user resources and credit resources, as well as managing compliance reporting of these activities.