JAVA/MATLAB simulator for power exchange markets

The discussion about the pros and cons of several proposed auction models in electricity markets is still open. Any proposal on the structure of a deregulated electric energy industry should be supported by scientific foundation and by intensive simulations to assess both the economical aspects and the technical issues. Based on the general structure of a power system and market simulator that has been proposed, this paper presents a simulator of power exchange markets. Bidding proposals are defined in a JAVA-based environment, in which communication between the producers/consumers and the auction regulator is simulated. A MATLAB application, which is interfaced to the JAVA environment by a Tcl program, works out the market clearing price together with the quantities that each bidder is allowed to buy or sell. The simulator is extremely flexible and useful to compare the performance of power exchange markets adopting different methods of treating technical and security constraints in the MATLAB application. A significant numerical example is presented to highlight the features of the tool.