A Flexible Multi-Mechanism Market Model for Air Conditioning Users in Electricity Market: Design and Application

With the continuous growth of electricity demand, optimizing load management strategies has become a crucial approach for alleviating the pressure on power supply. As a significant component of power consumption, air conditioning loads offer substantial curtailment potential. However, the current design of electricity market mechanisms for air conditioning users remains inadequate, making it difficult to fully mobilize user participation and utilize the curtailment potential of air conditioning loads. This paper considers market operation objectives across four dimensions: demand fulfillment, operational costs, user participation, and user comfort. A flexible multi-mechanism market model for air conditioning users is proposed, enabling market operators to design adaptable mechanisms that meet various operational needs. Additionally, a set of market mechanism evaluation metrics is developed. Through case studies, the application effects of various market mechanisms under different load reduction demands are compared. The results demonstrate that the proposed model provides a new approach to designing electricity market mechanisms for air conditioning users, effectively enhancing system responsiveness, flexibility, and economic efficiency of grid operations.