Policy, Markets, and Analytics

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/112470

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Now showing 1 - 9 of 9

On Econometric Model of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in Transmission Line Design, Maintenance and Operation
(2026-01-06) Begovic, Miroslav M.; Springer, Paul
The article proposes to address the planning and design of transmission infrastructure by employing a stochastic modeling framework for evaluating the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of electric transmission lines over a 50+ year horizon. The novel approach provides both timely and innovative slant on transmission line design, construction and operation. This approach is particularly pertinent given the uncertainties in load growth, technological advancements in materials and design, and environmental factors. The paper presents an overview of the currently used methodologies and literature on the subject, along with an assessment of the novelty and potential impact of this new approach.
Measuring Stakeholder Voting Coalition Stability in Regional Transmission Organizations
(2026-01-06) Blumsack, Seth; Johnson, Nick
We use network analysis to probe votes taken at the top-level committees in three RTOs: the New England Independent System Operator, the New York Independent System Operator, and PJM. Whereas CAISO, MISO, and PJM were chosen because of the diversity in their stakeholder processes, ISO-NE, NYISO, and PJM were chosen because of their similarities, particularly their hierarchical voting structure and divisions of stakeholders into similar classes (i.e generators, transmission owners, end-use customers, and so on). This network approach allows us to look at how political power structures vary across the three RTOs based on the unique differences in the voting structures between the RTOs. We address three questions based on this network analysis: Whether specific constituencies can be identified; whether these constituencies are stable over different voting issues; and whether they are stable over time.
Frequency Stability Constraints in Economic Dispatch: Electricity Market Insights using a Neural Network Surrogate Modeling Approach
(2026-01-06) Garcia, Manuel; Logiudice, Nicole; Parker, Robert; Bent, Russell
A Frequency Stability-Constrained Optimal Power Flow (FSC-OPF) problem is proposed that enforces frequency stability constraints using Neural Network (NN) surrogate models. In the context of wholesale electricity markets, pricing structures are analyzed along with their dependencies on the selected input features to the NN surrogate model. An important insight identifies a trade-off between the effectiveness of the NN surrogate model and sensible locational pricing structures. The numerical results represent frequency stability using frequency nadir limits and identify trends in prices, dispatch, and profits that follow from different selected input features. NN surrogate models for frequency stability are validated by ensuring that the resulting FSC-OPF solution is stable over randomly generated load samples using a small Hawaii test case.
Efficient Investments in Community Choice Aggregation through Stable Uniform Price Cost Sharing
(2026-01-06) Valencia Zuluaga, Tomas; Oren, Shmuel S
Increasingly ubiquitous solar panels in residential buildings and the end of net metering programs make energy communities increasingly attractive for prosumers to reduce their electricity costs. In this context, cooperative game theory models have been proposed to find a mechanism to distribute collective cost savings among community members. We address here a shortcoming in a recently proposed mechanism to share savings through uniform price allocations stemming from shadow prices of a linear program. We show that in cases where existing local rooftop generation is sufficiently high, that mechanism may incentivize inefficient investments by under-compensated participants. We propose a modified mechanism in which investment decisions are part of the optimization problem and show that the desirable properties of game-theoretic stability and computational tractability are maintained, while incentivizing only efficient investments. We show theoretical results, illustrate the proposed model via examples and discuss remaining challenges for the approach.
Co-ordinated Operation of Independent Water and Power System with Limited Information Sharing
(2026-01-06) Gu, Weiying; Sioshansi, Ramteen
Typically, water and power systems are two independent infrastructures. However, their operations are interrelated due to the energy consumption units in the water system, while water tanks and variable speed pumps can be managed to provide flexibility to the power system. We analyze the independent but coordinated equilibria operation of the two systems by simultaneously solving the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions of both systems' models. We characterize the equilibria under different temporal and spatial granularity information exchange levels between the two system operators. An example is analyzed to examine the flexibility of the water system provided and the storage strategy in the two systems under different levels of information interchange on prices.
Emission-Aware Operation of Electrical Energy Storage Systems
(2026-01-06) Yao, Haotian; Hakimian, Vahid; Farrokhabadi, Mostafa; Zareipour, Hamidreza
Since the beginning of this century, there has been a growing body of research and developments supporting the participation of energy storage systems (ESS) in the emission reduction mandates. However, regardless of these efforts and despite the need for an accelerated energy transition, we have yet to see a practical framework for operational carbon accounting and credit trading for energy storage systems. In this context, this paper proposes an emission performance credits (EPCs) framework that allows ESS, down to the prosumer level, to participate in the carbon market. Thus, a mechanism is proposed, for the first time, to calculate the grid's real-time marginal emission intensity (MEI). The MEI is then used to optimize the cumulative operational emission of ESS through carbon-aware dispatch. Consequently, the framework tracks the operational emissions and converts them into EPCs, which are then sold to regulated entities under compliance programs. Simulation results support the potential of ESS, regardless of their size, to participate in the broader carbon mitigation objectives.
Carbon Taxation in an Imperfectly Competitive Power Sector
(2026-01-06) Oggioni, Giorgia; Pezzola, Annagiulia; Riccardi, Rossana; Saraceno, Santo; Siddiqui, Afzal
Power-sector decarbonisation necessitates variable renewable energy (VRE), viz., wind and solar. VRE's intermittency could be balanced by energy storage and fossil-fuelled generation. However, flexible plants may enjoy enhanced leverage, and carbon policy will have to adapt to mitigate economic and environmental distortions. Absent market power and storage inefficiency, the optimal carbon tax on fossil-fuelled generation equals its marginal cost of damage (MCD) from emissions. Departures from this idealised setting require reflecting an imperfectly competitive industry's attributes. In particular, a bi-level framework in which a policymaker anticipates industry’s Nash-Cournot equilibria distils a carbon tax that is lower (higher) than the MCD if fossil-fuelled generation (hydro storage) exerts market power. Intuitively, a fossil-fuelled plant (hydro storage) withholds output (conducts temporal arbitrage) to manipulate electricity prices, which alleviates (exacerbates) the environmental impact. We solve our problem instances by reformulating the bi-level model as a mathematical program with primal and dual constraints (MPPDC).
Understanding Energy Equity through Smart Meter Data: Insights from Low-to-Moderate-Income Detroit Households
(2026-01-06) Brooks, Joann; Mathieu, Johanna
Understanding household energy use is a complicated problem with individual household use shaped by environmental, cultural, and economic factors. This paper investigates energy use and affordability for 57 mostly low-to-moderate income (LMI) homes in Detroit, MI using smart meter and some limited demographic data collected through surveys. We evaluate energy use through three equity-focused metrics: Energy Use Intensity (EUI), Energy Burden (EB), and the Energy Equity Gap (EEG), which measure efficiency of electrical usage, affordability, and energy limiting behavior through disparities in energy use and thermal comfort across income groups, respectively. Results show that lower income households in our sample face a median electric energy burden of 6.4%, which is considered unaffordable, while the highest income group in our sample has a median burden of 1.6%. The EEG reveals a 7°F cooling gap and a 7°F heating gap, highlighting disparities in energy use and thermal comfort across income groups. Our work demonstrates that these metrics, when used together, can help capture and reveal the many dimensions of energy poverty and insecurity facing LMI homes, which has implications for energy policy, energy rate design, and power system design and operation.
Introduction to the Minitrack on Policy, Markets, and Analytics
(2026-01-06) Oren, Shmuel; Parvania, Masood

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