Integrated simulation and optimization of decentralized Turkish electricity market

Abstract

Unlike most other commodities, electricity cannot be stored. Therefore, its generation must closely match the demand on a continuous time scale. Primarily for this reason, an independent system operator is needed to manage, monitor and supervise the market behavior and control the physical operations to balance the demand and supply. The regulation called “Balancing and Settlement” based on Electricity Market Law No.4628 enacted in 2001, was put into practice in 2004 to form more liberalized market where uncontracted generation can be traded. In this new system, transmission was completely separated from the distribution and the ownership of the national grid, the responsibilities of planning new transmission investments and building new transmission facilities were transferred to the TEIAS. Generation, on the other hand, was to be accomplished by many individual power companies (some public and some private) who would be selling the electricity produced in an “auction” system. This “auction” system consists of the Day-Ahead Market and of the Real-Time Balancing Market. This study analyzes the Day-Ahead and the Real-Time Balancing markets and power generator agents in many aspects like system prices, demand levels, profits, market shares, capacity utilization and algorithms which enable power generator agents to take decision regarding the matters related to the Day-Ahead Market operations according to administration of the “Balancing and Settlement” regulation in an agent-based simulation model. Results provide key insights into the behavioral and the structural aspects of decentralized electricity market and investigate the electricity market restructuring and implication of competitive power market based on hourly bidding.