The AMES wholesale power market test bed: A computational laboratory for research, teaching, and training

Wholesale power markets around the world are currently undergoing a controversial restructuring of their architecture and rules of operation. Some commentators have argued that restructuring has not produced the intended improvements in market efficiency while at the same time it has complicated efforts to ensure reliability and fairness of operations. This situation suggests the desirability of having publicly available test beds suitable for the objective study of this restructuring process. This study reports on the AMES Wholesale Power Market Test Bed. AMES is an open-source agent-based computational laboratory designed for the systematic study of restructured wholesale power markets operating over AC transmission grids subject to congestion. The AMES traders have learning capabilities permitting them to evolve their trading strategies over time. The potential usefulness of AMES for research, teaching, and training purposes is discussed and illustrated.