Workshop on Introduction to Electricity Market Complex Adaptive System (EMCAS)

The EMCAS Workshop for 2009 has been canceled. More information to be posted shortly.

This workshop is organized and hosted by Argonne's DIS Center for Energy, Environmental, and Economic Systems Analysis. The workshop is targeted towards university professors and graduate students working in the area of power markets who currently have an educational license for EMCAS. A limited number of additional participants who do not have the license may attend, subject to space limitations.

Overview: Countries around the world continue to restructure their electricity markets and open them up to competition and private investors. The main objectives of this effort are to reduce financial burden on the public sector, attract private capital, and achieve higher economic efficiency. However, the recent volatility exhibited by many restructured electricity markets, in combination with several prominent market failures, has highlighted the need for a better understanding of the complex interactions among the various market participants and the emerging overall market behavior.

Advanced modeling approaches are needed that simulate the behavior of electricity markets over time and model how market participants may act and react to changes in the underlying economic, financial, and regulatory environments. This capability is particularly useful for developing sound market rules that will allow these markets to function properly; while at the same time will ensure meeting the objectives for future development of the electricity sector.

A new and promising approach involves modeling electricity markets as complex adaptive systems using an agent-based modeling and simulation approach. Argonne National Laboratory has used these techniques in developing the Electricity Market Complex Adaptive System (EMCAS) software. By using this unique approach, EMCAS provides the ability to capture and investigate the complex interactions between the physical infrastructures (generation, transmission, and distribution) and the economic/commercial behavior of market participants, which are hallmarks of newly emerging markets. This simulation will help evaluate competitiveness of nuclear power and other energy options under different market conditions.

Format and Topics: During the workshop, participants will learn the basic features of the EMCAS software. Standardized case studies will allow attendees to test various market strategies and market rules and their impact on the emerging market behavior.

Expected Outcome: At the end of the course, participants are expected to have developed (1) an understanding of how various restructured electricity markets operate; (2) a simple case analysis of a competitive market; (3) the ability to begin an analysis of their own cases studies; and (4) an understanding of how various technologies, such as nuclear power, renewables, or distributed generation might be part of a competitive market.

Course Registration: Information on the 2010 EMCAS Workshop is not currently available. Please check back at a later time.

For more information, contact Prakash Thimmapuram.