• Chen-Ching Liu (Project PI, Professor and Deputy Principal, College of Engineering, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences, National University of Ireland, Dublin)
  liu AT ucd.ie
• Leigh Tesfatsion (Project PI, Professor of Econ, Courtesy Professor of Mathematics and ECpE, ISU, Heady 375, 515-294-7318)
  tesfatsi AT iastate.edu
• Nanpeng Yu (EPRC Forecasting Project RA, Start Date 1/14/08; ISU ECpE Ph.D. Candidate, Coover 1121, 515-294-9338, Cell: 515-708-5277)
  eric.ynp AT gmail.com
• Qun Zhou (EPRC Forecasting Project RA, Start Date 8/20/07, ISU ECpE Ph.D. Candidate, Coover 3108, Cell: 515-509-1525)
  zhouqun8508 AT gmail.com

• Jorge Sierra (EPRC Industry Project Advisor, Specialist in Market Information, National Dispatch Center, XM S.A. E.S.P, Tel: +57 (4) 3157834, Fax: +57 (4) 3170833)
  jsierra AT xm.com.co
• Hongyan Li (EPRC MISO Energy Project RA, ISU ECpE Ph.D. Candidate, Coover 1131, 515-294-2525, Cell: 515-441-1763)
  lihy AT iastate.edu
• Abhishek Somani (NSF RA, ISU Econ Ph.D. Candidate, Start Date 8/07)
  somaniabhishek AT yahoo.com
• Junjie Sun (Financial Economist, OCC, U.S. Treasury; ISU Econ Ph.D. 2007)
  junjie.sun AT occ.treas.gov

Project Support

EPRC Forecasting Project:

Sponsor: Electric Power Research Center (EPRC)

Title: "Forecasting Grid Congestion for Transmission Grid Operation and Investment"

Principle Investigators: Chen-Ching Liu and Leigh Tesfatsion

Date of Award: Funding Start Date - August 2007

Duration of Award: Three years (conditional on successful end-of-year progress reviews)

Related EPRC Risk Management Project:

Sponsor: Electric Power Research Center (EPRC)

Title: "Financial and Operational RIsk Management for Restructured Wholesale Power Markets"

Principle Investigators: Leigh Tesfatsion

Date of Award: Funding Start Date - August 2009

Duration of Award: Three years (conditional on successful end-of-year progress reviews)

Related EPRC MISO Energy Project:

Sponsor: Electric Power Research Center (EPRC)

Title: "Testing the Efficiency and Reliability Impacts of MISO's Midwest Market Initiative"

Principle Investigators: Leigh Tesfatsion (Lead PI) and Herman C. Quirmbach

Date of Award: Funding Start Date - August 2006

Duration of Award: Three years (conditional on successful end-of-year progress reviews)

Project Interim Reports

• EPRC Forecasting Project: 2009 Interim Report (pdf,428K), Last Updated: April 2009.

• EPRC Forecasting Project: 2009 Interim Report -- Slide Presentation (pdf,456K), Last Updated: May 2009.

Recent Project-Related Publications and Working Papers (By Date of Posting)

• Qun Zhou, Leigh Tesfatsion, and Chen-Ching Liu, "Short-Term Congestion Forecasting in Wholesale Power Markets" (WP pdf, 295K), IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 2011, to appear.

• Qun Zhou, Leigh Tesfatsion, and Chen-Ching Liu, "Global Sensitivity Analysis for the Short-Term Prediction of System Variables" (pdf,297K), Proceedings of the IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, July 2010.

• Nanpeng Yu, Abhishek Somani, and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Financial Risk Management in Restructured Wholesale Power Markets: Concepts and Tools" (pdf,477K), IEEE Proceedings, Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, July 2010.

• Hongyan Li and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Development of Open Source Software for Power Market Research: The AMES Test Bed" (pdf preprint,601K), Journal of Energy Markets, Vol. 2, No. 2, Summer 2009.

• Hongyan Li and Leigh Tesfatsion, "The AMES Wholesale Power Market Test Bed: A Computational Laboratory for Research, Teaching, and Training" (pdf,930K), IEEE Proceedings, Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, CA, July 26-30, 2009.

• Haifeng Liu, Leigh Tesfatsion, and A. A. Chowdhury, "Derivation of Locational Marginal Prices for Restructured Wholesale Power Markets", Journal of Energy Markets, Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2009, 3-27.

  Note: An abridged version of this paper was presented at the IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Calgary, CA, July 26-30, 2009.

• Qun Zhou, Leigh Tesfatsion, and Chen-Ching Liu, "Scenario Generation for Price Forecasting in Restructured Wholesale Power Markets" (pdf,176K), IEEE Proceedings, Power Systems & Exposition Conference, Seattle, WA, March 15-18, 2009.

• Abhishek Somani and Leigh Tesfatsion, "An Agent-Based Test Bed Study of Wholesale Power Market Performance Measures" (pdf,2.8M), IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 4, November 2008, 56-72.

• Hongyan Li, Junjie Sun, and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Dynamic LMP Response Under Alternative Price-Cap and Price-Sensitive Demand Scenarios" (pdf,465K), IEEE Proceedings, Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Pittsburgh, July 20-24, 2008.

• Nanpeng Yu, Chen-Ching Liu, and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Modeling of Suppliers’ Learning Behaviors in an Electricity Market Environment" (pdf,277K), International Journal of Engineering Intelligent Systems, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 115-121, 2007.

• Guang Li, Chen-Ching Liu, Chris Mattson, and Jacques Lawarrée, "Day-Ahead Electricity Price Forecasting in a Grid Environment", IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Volume 22, No. 1, February 2007.

• Junjie Sun and Leigh Tesfatsion, "An Agent-Based Computational Laboratory for Wholesale Power Market Design" (pdf,724K), IEEE Proceedings, Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Tampa, Florida, June 2007.

• Junjie Sun and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Dynamic Testing of Wholesale Power Market Designs: An Open-Source Agent-Based Framework", Computational Economics, Volume 30, Number 3, 2007, pp. 291-327. This article is an abridged version of ISU Economics Working Paper No. 06025 (pdf,2.2MB).

• Junjie Sun and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Open-Source Software for Power Industry Research, Teaching, and Training: A DC-OPF Illustration" (pdf,115K), IEEE Proceedings, Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Tampa, Florida, June 2007.

• Junjie Sun and Leigh Tesfatsion, "DC Optimal Power Flow Formulation and Testing Using QuadProgJ" (pdf,526K), ISU Economics Working Paper No. 06014, Department of Economics, Iowa State University, Revised October 2007.

Open-Source Software Under Development for Project Use

AMES Wholesale Power Market Test Bed (Java): A Free Open-Source Computational Laboratory for the Agent-Based Modeling of Electricity Systems

The AMES Wholesale Power Market Test Bed (Java), developed by Hongyan Li (ISU), Junjie Sun (OCC, U.S. Treasury), and Leigh Tesfatsion (ISU), is an extensible and modular agent-based computational laboratory for the systematic experimental study of restructured wholesale power markets. AMES models strategic traders with learning capabilities interacting within an ISO-managed wholesale power market operating over an AC transmission grid subject to congestion effects. Congestion on the grid is managed by means of locational marginal prices derived from bid/offer-based optimal power flow solutions. AMES is a free open-source tool suitable for research, teaching, and training applications. A graphical user interface permits the creation, modification, analysis and storage of scenarios, parameter initialization and editing, specification of behavioral rules (e.g. learning methods) for market participants, and output reports through table and chart displays. AMES is an acronym for Agent-based Modeling of Electricity Systems.



DCOPFJ (Java): A Free Open-Source Solver for DC Optimal Power Flow Problems

The DCOPFJ Package (Java), developed by Junjie Sun (OCC, U.S. Treasury) and Leigh Tesfatsion (ISU), is a free open-source stand-alone solver for small to medium-sized DC optimal power flow problems having a strictly convex quadratic programming (SCQP) formulation. The DCOPFJ package incorporates an SCQP solver (QuadProgJ) wrapped in an outer SI-to-PU data processing shell. QuadProgJ implements the well-known dual active-set SCQP algorithm developed by Goldfarb and Idnani (1983). QuadProgJ has been shown to match or exceed the accuracy of the proprietary C-language QP solver BPMPD (highly recommended by MATPOWER) when tested on a public repository of small to medium-sized SCQP problems. The DCOPFJ package has been successfully run on DC-OPF test cases commonly used for training purposes.

Project-Related Presentations to External Groups (Ordered by Date of Presentation)

• Qun Zhou, "Global Sensitivity Analysis for the Short-Term Prediction of System Variables", to be presented at the IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, July 2010.

• Leigh Tesfatsion, "Auction Basics for Wholesale Power Markets: Objectives and Pricing Rules", IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Calgary, CA, July 26-30, 2009.

• Hongyan Li and Leigh Tesfatsion, "The AMES Wholesale Power Market Test Bed: A Computational Laboratory for Research, Teaching, and Training", IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Calgary, CA, July 26-30, 2009.

• Hongyan Li and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Development of Open Source Software for Power Market Research: An Illustrative Case Study", IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Calgary, CA, July 26-30, 2009.

• Haifeng Liu, Leigh Tesfatsion, and A. A. Chowdhury, "Locational Marginal Pricing Basics for Restructured Wholesale Power Markets", IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Calgary, CA, July 26-30, 2009.

• Leigh Tesfatsion, "Stress Testing Institutional Arrangements via Agent-Based Modeling: Illustrative Results for U.S. Power Markets", ICES/Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, April 3, 2009.

• Qun Zhou, Leigh Tesfatsion, and Chen-Ching Liu, "Scenario Generation for Price Forecasting in Restructured Wholesale Power Markets", IEEE Power Systems Conference & Exposition, Seattle, WA, March 15-18, 2009.

• Hongyan Li and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Capacity Withholding in Restructured Wholesale Power Markets: An Agent-Based Test Bed Study", IEEE Power Systems Conference & Exposition, Seattle, WA, March 15-18, 2009.

• Hongyan Li, Junjie Sun, and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Dynamic LMP Response Under Alternative Price-Cap and Price-Sensitive Demand Scenarios", Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS), Washington DC, October 12-15, 2008.

• Hongyan Li, Junjie Sun, and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Dynamic LMP Response Under Alternative Price-Cap and Price-Sensitive Demand Scenarios", IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA, July 21-24, 2008.

• Nanpeng Yu and Chen-Ching Liu, "Multi-Agent Systems and Electricity Markets: State-of-the-Art and the Future", IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA, July 20-24, 2008.

• Hongyan Li, Junjie Sun, and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Dynamic Price Response Under Alternative Price-Cap and Price-Sensitive Demand Scenarios", Summer North American Meetings of the Econometric Society, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, June, 2008.

• Hongyan Li, Junjie Sun, and Leigh Tesfatsion, "Dynamic LMP Response Under Alternative Price-Cap and Price-Sensitive Demand Scenarios", International Industrial Organization Conference, Washington, D.C., May 16-18, 2008.

• Leigh Tesfatsion, "Agent-Based Test Beds for Critical Infrastructure Research, Teaching, and Training", Department of Energy - National Renewable Energy Laboratory (DOE-NREL), Washington, D.C., February 22, 2008.

• Lynne Kiesling and Leigh Tesfatsion, "A Test Bed for the Integrated Experimental Study of Retail and Wholesale Power Market Designs: Seaming GridLab-D with AMES", Tele-Seminar and Webcast, sponsored by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), February 15, 2008.

• Leigh Tesfatsion, "Agent-Based Test Beds for Power Industry Research, Teaching, and Training", Tele-Seminar and Webcast, sponsored by the Power Systems Energy Research Center (PSERC), Cornell University, February 5, 2008.

• Leigh Tesfatsion, "Agent-Based Test Beds for Critical Infrastructure Research, Teaching, and Training", Plenary Address, AGENT 2007, Northwestern University, November 17, 2007.

• Nanpeng Yu, "Modeling of Suppliers' Learning Behaviors in an Electricity Market Environment", 14th International Conference on Intelligent Systems Applications to Power Systems (ISAP 2007), Kaohsiung, Taiwan, November 5, 2007.

• Leigh Tesfatsion, "Open-Source Software for Power Industry Research, Teaching, and Training: A DC-OPF Illustration", IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Tampa, Florida, June 25-28, 2007.

• Leigh Tesfatsion, "An Agent-Based Computational Laboratory for Wholesale Power Market Design", IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Tampa, Florida, June 25-28, 2007.

• Junjie Sun, "Dynamic Testing of Wholesale Power Market Designs: An Agent-Based Computational Approach", North American Meetings of the Econometric Society, Duke University, Durham, NC, June 21-24, 2007.

• Junjie Sun, "Dynamic Testing of Wholesale Power Market Designs: An Agent-Based Computational Approach", 13th International Conference on Computing in Economics and Finance, Society for Computational Economics, Montreal, Canada, June 14-16, 2007.

• Junjie Sun, "Dynamic Testing of Wholesale Power Market Designs: An Agent-Based Computational Approach", 5th Annual International Industrial Organization Conference (IIOC), Savannah, Georgia, April 14-15, 2007.

• Leigh Tesfatsion, "Agent-Based Computational Economics: A Constructive Approach to Economic Theory" Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, January 5-7, 2007.

• Leigh Tesfatsion and Junjie Sun, "Agent-Based Test Beds for Market Design", Allied Social Science Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, January 5-7, 2007.

Key Online Data Resources

• MISO Market Reports Site

• MISO Day-Ahead Reports

  • For a detailed explanation of the data provided in the following day-ahead reports, see the Day-Ahead Report Readers Guide.

  • MISO Day-Ahead Market Cleared Bids

    Data Description: Cleared bids data is posted in daily files. There are four types of cleared bids, represented by D, I, P or F. D stands for decrease (decrements), which are virtual bids. I stands for increase (increments), which are treated as negative virtual bids. F stands for fixed, which are physical (as opposed to virtual) fixed price bids. P stands for price sensitive, which are physical (as opposed to virtual) bids with price curves.

  • MISO Day-Ahead Market Cleared Offers

    Data Description: These files provide cleared hourly day-ahead offer data for the Midwest ISO energy market.

  • MISO Expanded Day-Ahead Reports

    Data Description: These expanded day-ahead reports give daily cleared demand (in GW, classified as physical-fixed, physical-price sensitive, virtual), cleared supply (in GW, classified as physical, virtual), and offered generation resources (in GW, divided into self-scheduled, must run, economic, emergency).

  • MISO Historical Day-Ahead Market LMPs

    Data Description: These daily files provide Day-Ahead Market LMPs for each hour of the day. Two components of LMP -- the Marginal Congestion Component (MCC) and the Marginal Loss Component (MLC) -- are also reported.

• MISO Day-Ahead Pricing Reports

  • For a detailed explanation of the data provided in the MISO Day-Ahead Pricing Reports, see the Day-Ahead Pricing Report Readers Guide.

  • MISO Day-Ahead Market Pricing Reports

    Data Description: These day-ahead pricing reports provide hourly-level summaries of the pricing results of the day-ahead market for the Midwest ISO system and associated hubs. The highest, lowest, and average LMP for the Midwest ISO system are all displayed.

• MISO Real-Time Reports

  • For a detailed explanation of the data provided in the following reports, see the Expanded Real-Time Report Readers Guide.

  • MISO Expanded Real-Time Market Reports

    Data Description: These daily files compare economic maximum, load, net scheduled imports, outages, and offers of total economic maximum based on the Forward Reliability Assessment Commitment for the MISO Real-time Market.

  • MISO Real-Time Market Cleared Offers

    Data Description: These files provide cleared 5-minute real-time offer data for the Midwest ISO energy market.

  • MISO Historical Real-Time Market LMPs

    Data Description: These daily files provide Real-Time Market LMPs for each hour of the day. Two components of LMP -- the Marginal Congestion Component (MCC) and the Marginal Loss Component (MLC) -- are also reported.

• MISO Real-Time Pricing Reports

  • For a detailed explanation of the data provided in the following real-time pricing reports, see the Real-Time Pricing Report Readers Guide.

  • MISO Real-Time Market Pricing Reports

    Data Description: These real-time pricing reports provide hourly-level summaries of pricing results for the real-time market for the Midwest ISO system and its associated hubs.

• The Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) Maintains a MISO Dynamic LMP Contour Map for real-time LMPs, updated every five minutes, accompanied by real-time and day-ahead LMP information in tabular form. The LMPs (real-time and day-ahead) are decomposed into loss (MLC), congestion (MCC), and energy (LMP - MLC - MCC) components. Congested areas of the MISO footprint are indicated by use of a differently colored "heat map." Congestion and demand conditions underlying the displayed LMP patterns can be accessed at the MISO Real-Time Market Information Site.

  Note: Viewing the contour map at this site requires the free installation of Adobe's SVG Viewer; a link to this viewer is provided at the above site.

• The New England Independent System Operator (ISO-NE) maintains ISO-NE Dynamic LMP Contour Maps for both day-ahead and real-time LMPs, refreshed every five minutes. Note: Viewing the contour maps at this site requires a Java-enabled browser.

• The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) maintains NYISO LMP Contour Maps for both day-ahead and real-time LMPs, refreshed every two minutes. Note: Viewing the contour maps at this site requires a Java-enabled browser.

Other Online Resource Materials

• General Resources on Electricity Restructuring

• Agent-Based Computational Electricity Research

• Open-Source Software for Electricity Market Research, Teaching, and Training

• The PowerWorld Simulator, a licensed energy model developed by PowerWorld Inc., is an interactive package for the analysis of power systems. In addition to optimal AC and DC power flows, it provides detailed modeling of LTC (load tap changer) and phase-shifting transformers, switched shunts, generator reactive capability curves, generator cost curves, load schedules, transaction schedules, dc lines, multi-section lines, and remote bus voltage control. There is also an attempt to include economic data into the power flow solution to evaluate the economic importance of a system change. A demonstration model can be obtained at the PowerWorld site free of charge.

Miscellaneous

• Steven Jones, "Power Switch: Software Looks to be Better Test of Wholesale Power Markets", Around LAS, Iowa State University, October 15, 2007.

  Note: Media report on the development of the AMES Market Test Bed by research team Hongyan Li, Junjie Sun, and Leigh Tesfatsion.