Research
Non-Convex Pricing and Flexible Demand
Non-convex pricing in electricity is a subject of active debate for system operators, particularly during the transition in which prices must signal optimal entry and exit decisions to maintain reliability at least cost.
Long-Run Optimal Pricing
The choice of non-convex pricing method can impact the pathway of decarbonization, leading to different long-run resource mixes and levels of consumer surplus.
Publication: European Journal of Operations Research, 2022
Market Power via Self-Scheduling
Market participants can learn via a simple reinforcement learning algorithm to self-schedule to increase their profits at the expense of consumers under conventional pricing methods.
Publication: Working Paper, 2023
Impacts of Near-Optimal Solutions
Unit commitment in power systems is NP-hard, but finding better near-optimal solutions can significantly lower costs in the presence of flexible demand.
Publication: PSCC and EPSR, 2022
Compensating Flexibility
Relaxing the assumption of convexity still leads to long-run cost recovery for flexible generators in the presence of high shares of zero-marginal cost variable renewable energy, but there is a penalty to consumers relative to the convex case. This penalty is proportional to the capacity of non-convex resources in the system.Â
Publication: PMAPS, 2022
Aggregation of Transmission in Dispatch
A central difference between power markets globally is whether the market is cleared based on an aggregated version of the underlying transmission network and simple bids or the DC optimal power flow and complex bids.
Flow-Based Market Coupling
The simplified form is used in Europe, where zonal prices are derived. A new approach called flow-based market coupling seeks to better represent intrazonal congestion in zonal markets, but a significant welfare gap remains.
Publication: EEM, 2020
Capacity Mechanisms
Electricity markets have a "missing money problem," a phenomenon in which energy market prices are insufficient for generators to fully recover their capital costs, leading to the proliferation of capacity mechanisms.
Capacity Market Design
A review of capacity market designs reveals substantial differences in methods to calculate qualifying capacity for VRE and energy storage.
Publication: The Electricity Journal, 2018
Capacity Value of VRE and Storage
We propose a method for calculating the standalone and integrated capacity value of an added wind or solar resource with existing energy storage resources, with the difference representing the synergy of VRE and storage
Publication: IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, 2020