39-405 Engineering Design
Power Tournament

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1. Introduction

The power industry has been moving towards a deregulated industry where competition would regulate prices, with less reliance on direct regulatory procedures. A scenario can be envisioned with generators offering and customers bidding for units of energy in an open market. The bargain is likely to be for small units of power, usually for an hour of regular consumption. The number of players in such a market may be very large and a huge amount of data is likely to be available which makes it hard and time-consuming to be played by households. Instead of households negotiating in the market, agents could be designed to act on the behalf of customers and suppliers. Customers would like to purchase reliable power at low prices, while suppliers would like to maximize profit.

The power tournament will provide means for design and competition among agents conceived by students. An auction is going to be the market institution for regulating the trade of power over multiple periods, like hours or days. Each period is divided in small units (iterations) and has a limit of time for negotiation. Customers are endowed every period and have a quota of power to be purchased. A fraction of unserved units is carried over to the next period and penalties are charged. The customers' objective is to maximize the final cash available. Similarly, generators pay a fixed feed to participate in the market and have production cost curves. Their objective is to maximize profit.

The following sections elaborate on the rules of the market and implementation related issues. For any question contact Eduardo Camponogara.

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