IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/isu/genstf/202209141325510000.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economics of Grid-Supported Electric Power Markets: A Fundamental Reconsideration

Author

Listed:
  • Tesfatsion, Leigh

Abstract

U.S. centrally-managed wholesale power markets operating over high-voltage AC transmission grids are transitioning from heavy reliance on fossil-fuel based power to greater reliance on renewable power. This study highlights four conceptually-problematic economic presumptions reflected in the legacy core design of these markets that are hindering this transition. The key problematic presumption is the static conceptualization of the basic transacted product as grid-delivered energy (MWh) competitively priced at designated grid delivery locations during successive operating periods, supported by ancillary services. The study then discusses an alternative conceptually-consistent "linked swing-contract market design" that appears well-suited for the scalable support of increasingly decarbonized grid operations with more active participation by demand-side resources. This alternative design entails a fundamental switch to a dynamic insurance focus on advance reserve procurement permitting continual balancing of real-time net load. Reserve consists of the guaranteed availability of diverse power-path production capabilities for possible centralized dispatch during future operating periods, offered into centrally-managed linked forward reserve markets by two-part pricing swing contracts in firm or option form.

Suggested Citation

  • Tesfatsion, Leigh, 2022. "Economics of Grid-Supported Electric Power Markets: A Fundamental Reconsideration," ISU General Staff Papers 202209141325510000, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:202209141325510000
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/9f61d26c-e67a-4415-97cd-788fe1d9530b/content
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tesfatsion, Leigh, 2009. "Auction Basics for Wholesale Power Markets: Objectives and Pricing Rules," Staff General Research Papers Archive 13074, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Ma, Shanshan & Wang, Zhaoyu & Tesfatsion, Leigh, 2017. "Swing Contracts with Dynamic Reserves for Flexible Service Management," ISU General Staff Papers 201709040700001032, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Baumol, William J, 1982. "Contestable Markets: An Uprising in the Theory of Industry Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 1-15, March.
    4. James Nicolaisen & Valentin Petrov & Leigh Tesfatsion, 2000. "Market Power and Efficiency in a Computational Electricity Market with Discriminatory Double-Auction Pricing," Computational Economics 0004005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Battula, Swathi & Tesfatsion, Leigh & McDermott, Thomas E., 2020. "An ERCOT test system for market design studies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    6. Liu, Haifeng & Tesfatsion, Leigh S. & Chowdhury, A.A., 2009. "Derivation of Locational Marginal Prices for Restructured Wholesale Power Markets," Staff General Research Papers Archive 13068, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jill W. Moraski & Natalie D. Popovich & Amol A. Phadke, 2023. "Leveraging rail-based mobile energy storage to increase grid reliability in the face of climate uncertainty," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(7), pages 736-746, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Hongyan & Sun, Junjie & Tesfatsion, Leigh S., 2009. "Separation and Volatility of Locational Marginal Prices in Restructured Wholesale Power Markets," Staff General Research Papers Archive 13075, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Somani, Abhishek, 2012. "Financial risk management and market performance in restructured electric power markets: Theoretical and agent-based test bed studies," ISU General Staff Papers 201201010800003479, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Li, Hongyan & Tesfatsion, Leigh, 2012. "Co-learning patterns as emergent market phenomena: An electricity market illustration," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 395-419.
    4. Albert Banal-Estañol & Augusto Rupérez-Micola, 2010. "Are agent-based simulations robust? The wholesale electricity trading case," Economics Working Papers 1214, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    5. Young, David & Poletti, Stephen & Browne, Oliver, 2014. "Can agent-based models forecast spot prices in electricity markets? Evidence from the New Zealand electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 419-434.
    6. Jean-Marc Siroën, 1993. "Marchés contestables, différenciation des produits et discrimination des prix," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 44(3), pages 569-592.
    7. Peter Kuhn, 1982. "Malfeasance in Long Term Employment Contracts: A New General Model with an Application to Unionism," NBER Working Papers 1045, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Shamsul Arifeen Khan Mamun, 2012. "Stochastic estimation of cost frontier: evidence from Bangladesh," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 211-227, May.
    9. Balint, T. & Lamperti, F. & Mandel, A. & Napoletano, M. & Roventini, A. & Sapio, A., 2017. "Complexity and the Economics of Climate Change: A Survey and a Look Forward," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 252-265.
    10. Makoto Yano, 2005. "Coexistence of large firms and less efficient small firms under price competition with free entry," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 1(3), pages 167-188, September.
    11. Boone, J., 2004. "Balance of Power," Other publications TiSEM d3f8cd4b-eaf0-4c1c-aed4-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    12. Benard, Jean, 1987. "Socialist incentive schemes and price planning," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 8735, CEPREMAP.
    13. Aslan, Hadiye & Kumar, Praveen, 2016. "The product market effects of hedge fund activism," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 226-248.
    14. Barrett, Sean D., 2004. "Bus Competition in Ireland - The Case for Market Forces," Quarterly Economic Commentary: Special Articles, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), vol. 2004(3-Autumn), pages 1-20.
    15. Milton Madison & James MacDonald & Michael Ollinger, 2000. "Technological Change and Economies of Scale in U.S. Poultry Slaughter," Working Papers 00-05, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    16. Dasgupta Utteeyo, 2011. "Are Entry Threats Always Credible?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-41, December.
    17. Boyan Jovanovic, 1993. "The Diversification of Production," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 24(1 Microec), pages 197-247.
    18. Bottasso, Anna & Conti, Maurizio & Vannoni, Davide, 2019. "Scale and (quasi) scope economies in airport technology. An application to UK airports," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 150-164.
    19. Maria Lorek, 2013. "Des pôles de croissance vers des systèmes d’innovation territorialisés dans une « nouvelle » économie de marche : le cas de Gdansk, Pologne [The poles of growth and conversion of industrial territo," Working Papers 274, Laboratoire de Recherche sur l'Industrie et l'Innovation. ULCO / Research Unit on Industry and Innovation.
    20. Subhash C. Ray & Shilpa Sethia, 2022. "Nonparametric measurement of potential gains from mergers: an additive decomposition and application to Indian bank mergers," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 115-130, April.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:202209141325510000. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Curtis Balmer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiasus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.