Pricing Economic Dispatch With AC Power Flow Via Local Multipliers and Conic Relaxation

We analyze two locational marginal pricing schemes in electricity markets derived from an economic dispatch (ED) problem with AC power flow equations that define a non-convex feasible set. The first among these prices, termed AC-LMPs, are derived from Lagrange multipliers that satisfy Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions for stationarity/local optimality of the non-convex ED problem. The second, called SDP-LMPs, are derived from optimal dual multipliers of the semidefinite programming (SDP)-based convex relaxation of the ED problem. We establish that AC-LMPs and SDP-LMPs are derived from Lagrange dual-equivalent problems. Hence, they coincide under zero duality gap, but may not be equal when the gap is non-zero or the AC-LMPs are associated with a stationary/locally optimal, but not globally optimal, dispatch. SDP-LMPs share interesting parallels with convex hull prices (CHPs), being derived from the Lagrangian dual of the non-convex ED problem. However, there are important differences. For example, the epigraphs of the SDP relaxation of the ED problem and the latter, parameterized by the nodal power demands, may not enjoy the relationship that CHPs satisfy and derive their name from. Also, while CHPs minimize a form of side-payments, SDP-LMPs may not. We prove that AC-LMPs, (and SDP-LMPs under zero duality gap) guarantee revenue adequacy under a condition that is sufficient, but not necessary. Finally, the SDP-LMPs are shown to equal SOCP-DLMPs, that are distribution locational marginal prices derived with second-order cone programming-based relaxations of power flow equations over radial distribution networks. We illustrate our theoretical findings through numerical experiments.