Showing papers by "Robert J. Thomas published in 2001"

Experimental tests of competitive markets for electric power

Abstract: Testing the performance of electricity markets using POWERWEB has already shown that relatively inexperienced players can identify and exploit market power in load pockets. When transmission constraints are not binding, however, auctions with six players have been shown to be efficient. There is evidence from operating electricity markets that prices can be driven above competitive levels when the largest supplier controls less than 20% of total installed capacity. This is accomplished by causing price spikes to occur. In experiments, uncertainty about the actual load and paying standby costs regardless of whether or not a unit is actually dispatched contribute to volatile price behavior. The objective of this paper is to investigate characteristics of a market that affect price volatility. The tests consider three different sets of rules for setting price when there are capacity shortfalls, and the following four market structures: load is responsive to price; price forecasts are made before market settlement; a day-ahead market and a balancing market auction; and suppliers are paid actual offers (a discriminatory auction).

Kirchhoff vs. competitive electricity markets: a few examples

Abstract: Electric power is often regarded as a homogeneous commodity due to the ubiquity of the transmission grid. This paper, however, presents a collection of cases in which the physical laws governing network flows can have anomalous and unexpected market implications. For example, reactive power requirements can affect optimal unit commitment and impact real power prices in otherwise competitive markets. Network topology and constraint interactions can result in other unwelcome market phenomena, such as large price differentials within a congestion zone, nodal prices well above the highest offer and "cascading market power".

The Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC)

Abstract: PSERC is a multi-university research consortium that currently includes eleven universities and some forty companies from the electric power industry. The Center operates under a National Science Foundation grant and includes in its list of members the US Department of Energy (DoE) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). It is a collaboratory of university, industry and government people interested in solving current problems facing the electric power industry. PSERC is especially interested in technical problems associated with the new institutional arrangements that are occurring under a restructured industry. The Center is researching issues such as how to simulate power systems under bidding (offers), how to quantify planning and operational limits, how to operate a power system reliably and securely while increasing competitive interplay, how to implement and operate needed information networks, operation under an ISO, an RTO, or other possible scenarios. PSERC is a university-industry collaboration addressing challenges facing the new electric power industry as it restructures to a competitive business environment.

Restructuring the electric power business — a marriage of power engineering and markets economics

Abstract: There are significant challenges facing electric power systems researchers as a result of the dramatic changes taking place in the US electric power industry. We have another year of experience, so a picture is beginning to emerge about how the restructured industry will eventually look. However, the startup of new market structures has not been with out its glitches. Be that as it may, new independent system Ž . operators are in place in California CAISO , New Ž . England NEISO , the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ž . Maryland Interconnection PJM and most recently, Ž . the New York ISO NYISO . Others are being planned. All of the operating ISO’s except New York, which has not been in operation long enough to tell where problem might be, have made changes to their operating structure at least once because of surprises that occurred during actual operation. These are topics for next year’s papers. This special issue contains a cross-section of papers dealing with technical and market issues associated with restructuring the electric power system, primarily in the US. The research agenda involves creating and implementing new tools and models needed to develop a prototype design for the nextgeneration electric power system. This research is important both because of the rising pressures of restructuring and competition in the electric utility industry and because of the rapid influx of new computing, communication, and control technologies into the system. In regulated monopoly power markets, a central system operator makes the decision as to which subset of generators will be operating at any particular point in time. That system operator had access to all relevant information such as heat rate curves, minimum up and down times, start-up costs and other such system equipment and operating constraints. Provided that the information available to the system operator was accurate, it was possible to dispatch generators so as to minimize system-operating costs, consistent with generator and network constraints. Future electric power systems, including those that have begun to operate this past year, could benefit by the ability to quickly reconfigure network flows in response to technical and economic pressures. This requirement, which does not yet exist, means that the full capacity of every line in the system must be available at any and every instant in order to realize a substantial economic benefit. Although present-day system operation may be designed for Aleast cost of electricityB, based on the slowly changing environment of the past, it cannot respond to the rapid competitive pace envisioned for future systems. Therefore, a well-managed redesign of the nation’s power supply is needed and these papers address some of the significant issues associated with that redesign. The alternative would be to accept unmanaged change and to operate the system in ways that were not anticipated by the original designers. Reliable operation of the grid is a major concern, especially considering the outages that have occurred during the summer these past 2 years. In the past, reliable operation has required continuous monitoring of the system conditions to compare them to predicted behavior. For over 30 years, electric utilities have been monitoring and controlling their generation and networks from control centers. However, advanced versions of these centers will be needed for the new environment and they will need to contain the intelligence required for ensuring reliability and