Impact of technical operational details on generation expansion in oligopolistic power markets

Abstract

Renewable generation technologies are expected to reach unprecedented penetration levels in a number of electric power systems. The increased deployment of these renewable technologies is changing the unit commitment of the rest of generation facilities, increasing the need for cycling. As a result, operation-related issues and their costs become more relevant for an adequate analysis of generation expansion problems. In this study, the authors propose a generation expansion model including an oligopolistic market representation based on an equilibrium approach. It introduces key operation-related constraints, such as minimum stable output, start-ups and shut-downs; and short-term operating costs, such as commitment, start-up and shut-down costs. The proposed model furthermore considers the discrete nature of capacity investment decisions. The authors also propose a heuristic method for solving the arising equilibrium problem, by providing an efficient starting point to the diagonalisation process. This heuristic can lead to reductions of up to 90 in computational time. Finally, case studies are presented in order to illustrate the importance of considering both operational details and a market framework when making generation expansion planning decisions.